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200M/06-99-991212 


AN   ESSAY 


ON 


CALCAREOUS  MANURES; 


BY 

EDMUND    RUFFIN, 


A  PRACTICAL  FARMER  OF  VIRGINIA  FROM   1  SI  2  ;  FOUNDER  ANT)  BOLE   EDITOR 
OF  TIIE  FARMERS'  REGISTER:  MEMBER  ASH  B  ■<  !B  i:  r  ARY  OF  THE  FORMER 
STATE  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE;    FORMERLY  AGRICULTURAL  SUR- 
VEYOR OF  TIIE  STATE  OF  SOI  1  II  c  VROLIN'A  j    AND    PI  ESI  DENT 
OF  TIIE  VIRGINIA  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 


FIFTH   EDITION: 

AMENDED  AND  ENLAK<;KI>. 


J.  W.  RANDOLPH, 

121,  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

1852. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1852, 

BY  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  in  and  for  the  Eastern  Dist.  of  Virginia. 


TRISTED    BY    C.  II.  WYNNE,  RICHMOND. 


^m^V 


PllEFACE   TO   THE   FIFTH   EDITION. 


The  publication  of  another  edition  of  this  Essay  was  not 
designed  to  bo  made  during  the  life  of  the  author,  until  recent 
circumstances  served  to  induce  a  change  of  purpose.  When 
closing  my  publication  of  the  "  Farmers'  Register" — -to  which 
service  I  had  devoted  and  (in  reference  to  my  own  interest)  sacri- 
ficed the  ten  best  years  of  my  life — I  had  withdrawn  from  all 
connexion  with  the  public,  and  had  no  thought  of  again  leaving 
the  quiet  seclusion  which  I  had  sought  and  found.  But  though 
not  expecting  again  to  appear  in  print  during  my  life,  it  was 
nevertheless  my  practice  to  make  corrections  of  this  Essay,  and  to 
prepare  materials  for  future  emendations  and  additions,  as  new 
lights  were  afforded  by  extended  observation  and  investigation,  or 
by  my  still  extending  practical  experience.  This  labour  was  due 
to  my  own  reputation.  Further,  I  trusted  that,  when  the  results 
should  finally  be  offered  to  my  countrymen,  this  and  also  other 
previous  services  might  be  the  more  justly  appreciated,  because 
the  author  would  then  be  beyond  the  reach  of  applause  or  recom- 
pense. Thus,  at  different  and  irregular  times,  separated  by  long 
intervals  of  cessation  of  this  particular  labour,  this  edition  was 
prepared  for  posthumous  publication.  And  though  the  publication 
is  now  advanced  in  time,  the  before-designed  form  and  manner 
are  not  changed,  except  in  the  making  of  still  later  additions  and 
corrections. 

Under  all  the  existing  circumstances,  I  trust  it  will  not  be 
deemed  improper,  or  offensively  egotistical,  for  me,  at  this  time 
and  in  plain  words,  to  assert  my  just  claim  to  the  most  important 
of  the  truths  which  were  first  announced  in  the  earliest  and  also 
in  every  subsequent  edition  of  this"  Essay;  and  which  truths, 
though  having  formerly  no  other  support  than  my  obscure  name, 
are  now  so  generally  accepted  and  recognised,  that  they  may  seem 
to  have  been  long  established  and  undisputed.  Among  these 
opinions,  or  facts,  which  I  was  the  first  to  distinctly  assert,  and  to 
maintain  at  length  by  proof  and  argument,  were  the  following : — 

1.  The  capacity  of  impoverished  soils  for  receiving  improve- 
ment from  putrescent  manures,  being  in  proportion  to  their  origi- 
nal or  natural  measures  of  fertility ;  and  that  soils  naturally  poor 
(especially  in  this  country)  could  not  be  enriched  by  these  manures, 
durably  or  profitably,  above  their  natural  degree  of  productive- 
ness. 

2.  The  almost  universal  and  total  absence  of  carbonate  of  lime 
in  the  soils  of  the  Atlantic  slope  of  Virginia,  and  (by  inference) 
of  most  others  of  the  United  States — and  even  in  most  lime-stone 

38965 


IV  TREFACE   TO    THE    FIFTH   EDITION. 

— while,  from  all  existing  fa  f  preceding  •writers  on 

agriculture,  the  very  general,  if  not  universal  prevalence  of  carbo- 
:  lime  would  have  been  inferred  by  every  reader. 

3.  The  general  presence  of  some  vegetable  acid  in  all  our  natu- 
rally poor  soils,  and  this  acid  acting  as  a  cause  of  sterility. 

4.  The  application  of  carbonate  of  lime  to  soils  deficient  in  that 
necessary  clement,  serving  to  neutralize  the  acid — and,  by  that  and 
other  stated  and  important  operations  or  effects,  serving  to  fit  the 
before  poor  and  unimprovable  soils  for  speedy  and  profitable 
improvement. 

These  positions  were  assumed  and  maintained  in  all  the  different 
editions  of  this  essay,  from  1821  to  1842.*  For  my  own  practice 
they  served,  as  soon  as  impressed  on  my  mind,  to  direct  and 
enjoin,  as  indispensable  for  any  important  and  remunerating  im- 
provement of  poor  soils,  the  application  of  calcareous  mam;: 
and  especially  of  the  cheapest  and  most  abundant  resources  in  thi3 
region,  the  beds  of  fossil-shells  (or  marl),  then  scarcely  noticed, 
and  not  used  in  any  known  practice. 

My  just  claim  to  the  actual  introduction  in  this  country  of  this 
now  wide-spread  and  most  beneficial  means  for  fertilization,  and 
my  making  generally  known  the  value,  and  inducing  the  later 
numerous  and  extensive  applications  by  many  other  farmers,  has 
not  been  openly  disputed.  Detractors  in  wish  and  intention  have 
indeed  thought  that  they  had  plucked  from  me  some  borrowed 
plumes,  when  stating  that  numerous  older  writers  (in  Europe)  had 
recommended  marling — that  thousands  of  farmers  in  Europe  had 
thus  improved  land — and  that,  even  in  this  country,  some  few 
persons  had  tried  disintegrated  fossil  shells  as  manure,  and,  in  still 
fewer  cases,  with  success.  Such  facts,  as  to  European  opinions 
and  practice,  have  been  long  and  well  known  to  all  reading 
farmers ;  and  it  would  have  been  impossible,  if  I  had  desired  it, 
to  shut  out  this  information.  The  trials  in  America  were  so 
limited,  and  so  little  known  (and  of  which  but  one  case  had  then 
appeared  in  print,  and  that  later  than  my  earliest  practice,  in  181 x  , 
that  not  one  of  them  had  reached  me  until  after  my  opinions  had 
been  formed  and  uttered,  and  my  practice,  founded  thereupon,  had 
been  commenced  and  was  in  progress.  And  when  these  cases  were 
subsequently  heard  of,  I  industriously  sought  to  gather  the  facts ; 
and  have  published  them  all,  at  length,  in  the  former  editions  of  this 
work.     But,  in  truth,  none  of  these  prior  practices,  or  opinions 

*  The  principal  and  more  important  of  these  opinions  had  been  asserted 
as  early  as  l^lS  in  a  communication  to  the  Trince  George  Agricultural 
iv.     But  as  that  communication  (which  was  the  first  concise  sketch, 
since  enlarged  to  this  is  not  then  printed,  perhaps  I  may  have  no 

right  to  cite  it  as  showing  so  early  a  date  for  my  claims  of  discovery.  An 
extract  from  that  communication  will  he  embraced  in  one  of  the  pieces  in 
the  Appendix. 


TREFACE   TO   THE   FIFTH   EDITION.  V 

connected  therewith,  had  any  bearing  on  my  claim — which  is  of 
showing  why,  and  under  what  circumstances,  calcareous  manures 
are  especially  aud  generally  necessary  in  this  country,  and  of  in- 
ducing the  extensive  use  of  the  particular  material  above  named, 
of  which  the  existence  had  before  attracted  the  notice  of  but  few 
persons,  and  of  which  any  value  was  suspected  by  still  fewer — and 
the  few  earlier  trials  of  which  had  been  altogether  empirical,  and 
made  without  any  knowledge  of  the  mode  of  operation — and  which 
therefore  had  generally  ended  in  supposed  failure  aud  certain  dis- 
appointment, aud  speedy  abandonment  of  all  further  effort. 

As  to  the  opinions  above  enumerated,  which  served  to  direct 
my  practice  from  the  beginning  of  1818,  they  had  either  no  sup- 
port from  previous  authority,  or,  if  asserted  by  any,  had  been 
denied  by  higher  authority  and  by  general  understanding.  This 
latter  case,  of  feeble  assertion  and  stronger  denial,  covers  only  the 
doctrine  of  acid  in  soils.  The  other  important  positions  had  not 
been  asserted  by  any  known  authority,  previous  to  my  declaration. 
Yet  all  these  doctrines  are  now  received  either  generally  or  uni- 
versally, and  so  appear  in  recent  publications  on  scientific  agricul- 
ture. And  in  regard  to  the  existence  of  acid  in  soil,  the  actual 
discovery  was  truly  made  in  Europe,  later,  indeed,  than  my  first 
annunciation  of  the  doctrine,  by  men  of  high  scientific  attainments, 
who  most  probably  had  never  even  heard  of  the  opinions  of  so 
remote  and  obscure  a  writer  as  myself. 

Under  these  circumstances,  when  these  now  generally  received 
opinions  are  seen  stated  in  any  of  my  former  editions  (and  still  more 
if  in  a  subsequent  edition),  such  appearance  would  not  necessarily 
imply  the  originality  of  such  opinions.  For  it  might  well  be 
inferred  by  the  (otherwise  well-informed)  reader,  that  these  doc- 
trines had  been  introduced  in  the  later  editions,  after  they  had 
been  discovered  and  published  by  other  authorities.  For  it  is  the 
general  and  proper  usage  of  authors  of  scientific  and  didactic 
works,  to  add  to  each  successive  edition  any  new  lights  on  the 
subject,  up  to  the  latest  time  of  publication.  Hence,  when  dates 
and  authorities  arc  omitted  (in  regard  to  doctrines  long  established 
and  received),  it  is  left  doubtful  which  of  the  positions  of  an 
author's  latest  edition  had  also  been  maintained  in  his  earliest; 
and  also,  whether  such  doctrines  were  original  with  the  author 
then  stating  them,  or  belonged  to  some  other  discoverer  not  then 
cited.  It  is  especially  designed,  in  this  last  edition,  to  avoid  every 
such  source  of  error.  For  this  purpose,  the  Chapters  (from  II.  to 
VIII.  inclusive)  which  will  set  forth  all  these  theoretical  doctrines, 
will  exhibit  an  exact  reprint  of  the  edition  of  1832.  No  altera- 
tions of  the  original  text  will  be  made,  other  than  merely  verbal 
and  immaterial  corrections.  Any  new  matter,  or  extension  of 
remark  or  illustration,  will  be  designated  in  every  case;  and, 
1* 


Vi  PREFACE   TO    THE   EDITION   OF   1832. 

however  since  amplified  in  expression  or  varied  in  form,  these 
eame  positions,  more  concisely  worded,  were  all  embraced  in  the 
earlier  edition  of  1821  (in  the  "  American  Farmer"),  and,  as  was 
before  stated,  the  main  points  of  these  opinions  were  also  set  forth 
in  the  earlier  communication  of  1818.  E.  11. 

Marlbourxe,  Hanover,  Va.,  August,  1852. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  EDITION  OF  1832. 

The  object  of  this  Essay  is  to  investigate  the  peculiar  features  and 
qualities  of  the  soils  of  our  tide-water  district,  to  show  the  causes  of  their 
general  unproductiveness,  and  to  point  out  means,  as  yet  but  little  used, 
for  their  effectual  and  profitable  improvement.  My  observations  are  par- 
ticularly addressed  to  the  cultivators  of  that  part  of  Virginia  which  lies 
between  the  sea  coast  and  the  falls  of  the  rivers,  and  are  generally  in- 
tended to  be  applied  only  within  those  limits.  By  thus  confining  the  appli- 
cation of  the  opinions  which  will  be  maintained,  it  is  not  intended  to  deny 
the  propriety  of  their  being  farther  extended.  On  the  contrary,  I  do  not 
doubt  that  they  may  correctly  apply  to  all  similar  soils,  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances ;  for  the  operations  of  Nature  are  directed  by  uniform  laws, 
and  like  causes  must  everywhere  produce  like  effects.  But  as  I  shall  rely 
for  proofs  on  such  facts  as  are  either  sufficiently  well  known  already,  or 
may  easily  be  tested  by  any  inquirer,  I  do  not  choose  to  extend  my  ground 
bo  far  as  to  be  opposed  by  the  assertion  of  other  facts,  the  truth  of  which 
can  neither  be  established  nor  overthrown  by  any  available  or  sufficient 
testimony. 

The  peculiar  qualities  of  our  soils  have  been  little  noticed,  and  the  causes 
of  those  peculiarities  have  never  been  sought ;  and  though  new  and  valua- 
ble truths  may  await  the  first  explorers  of  this  opening  for  agricultural 
research,  yet  they  can  scarcely  avoid  mistakes  sufficiently  numerous  to 
moderate  the  triumph  of  success.  I  am  not  blind  to  the  difficulties  of  the 
investigation,  nor  to  my  own  unfitness  to  overcome  them ;  nor  should  I 
have  hazarded  the  attempt,  but  for  the  belief  that  such  an  investigation  is 
all-important  for  the  improvement  of  our  soil  and  agriculture,  and  that  it 
was  in  vain  to  hope  that  it  would  be  undertaken  by  those  who  were  better 
qualified  to  do  justice  to  the  subject.  I  ask  a  deliberate  hearing,  and  a 
strict  scrutiny  of  my  opinions,  from  those  most  interested  in  their  troth. 
If  a  change,  in  most  of  our  lands,  from  hopeless  sterility  to  a  high  state 
of  productiveness,  is  a  vain  fancy,  it  will  be  easy  to  discover  and  expose 
the  fallacy  of  my  views ;  but  if  these  views  are  well  founded,  none  deserve 
better  the  attention  of  farmers,  and  nothing  can  more  seriously  affect  tho 
future  agricultural  prosperity  of  our  country.  No  where  ought  such  im- 
provements to  be  more  highly  valued,  or  more  eagerly  sought,  than  among 
us,  where  so  many  causes  have  concurred  to  reduce  our  products,  and  the 
prices  of  our  lands,  to  the  lowest  state,  and  are  yearly  extending  want,  and 
its  consequence,  ignorance,  among  the  cultivators  and  proprietors. 

In  pursuing  this  inquiry,  it  will  be  necessary  to  show  the  truth  of  vari- 
ous facts  and  opinions  which  as  yet  are  unsupported  by  authority,  and 
most  of  which  have  scarcely  been  noticed  by  agricultural  writers,  unless  to 
be  denied.  The  number  of  proofs  that  will  be  required,  and  the  discursive 
course  through  which  they  must  be  reached,  may  probably  render  more 


TREFACE   TO    THE   EDITION   OF   1832.  vii 

obscure  the  reasoning  of  an  unpractised  writer.  Treatises  on  agriculture 
ought  to  be  so  written  as  to  be  clearly  understood,  though  it  should  be  at 
the  expense  of  some  other  requisites  of  good  writing ;  and,  in  this  respect, 
I  shall  be  satisfied  if  I  succeed  in  making  my  opinions  intelligible  to  every 
reader,  though  many  might  well  dispense  with  such  particular  explanations. 
Agricultural  works  are  seldom  considered  as  requiring  very  close  attention; 
and  therefore,  to  be  made  useful,  they  should  be  put  in  a  shape  suited  to 
cursory  and  irregular  reading.  A  truth  may  be  clearly  established — but 
if  its  important  consequences  cannot  be  regularly  deduced  for  many  pages 
afterwards,  the  premises  will  then  probably  have  been  forgotten,  so  that  a 
very  particular  reference  to  them  may  be  required.  These  considerations 
must  serve  as  my  apology  for  some  repetitions — and  for  minute  explana- 
tions and  details,  which  some  readers  may  deem  unnecessary. 

The  theoretical  opinions  supported  in  this  Essay,  together  witli  my  earliest 
experiments  with  calcareous  manures,  were  published  in  the  "American  Far- 
mer" (vol.'iii.  page  318),  in  1821.  No  reason  has  since  induced  me  to  retract 
any  of  the  important  positions  then  assumed.  But  the  many  imperfections 
in  that  publication,  which  grew  out  of  my  want  of  experience,  made  it  my 
duty,  at  some  future  time,  to  correct  its  errors,  and  supply  the  deficiencies 
of  proof,  from  the  fruits  of  subsequent  practice  and  observation.  With 
these  views,  this  Essay  was  commenced  and  finished  in  1826.  But  the 
work  had  so  grown  on  my  hands,  that  instead  of  being  of  a  size  suitable 
for  insertion  in  an  agricultural  journal,  it  would  have  tilled  a  volume.  The 
unwillingness  to  assume  so  conspicuous  a  position  as  the  publication  in 
that  form  would  have  required,  and  the  fear  that  my  work  would  be  more 
likely  to  meet  with  neglect  or  censure  than  applause,  induced  me  to  lay  it 
aside;  and  to  give  up  all  intention  of  publication.  Since  that  time,  the  use 
of  fossil  shells  as  manure  has  greatly  increased,  in  my  own  neighbourhood 
and  elsewhere,  and  has  been  attended  generally  with  all  the  improvement 
and  profit  that  was  expected.  But  from  paying  no  regard  to  the  theory  of 
the  operation  of  this  mauure,  and  from  not  taking  warning  from  the 
errors  and  losses  of  myself  as  well  as  others,  most  persons  have  operated  in- 
judiciously, and  have  damaged  more  or  less  of  their  lands.  So  many  dis- 
asters of  this  kind  seemed  likely  to  restrain  the  use  of  this  valuable  ma- 
nure, and  even  to  destroy  its  reputation,  just  as  it  was  beginning  rapidly 
to  be  extended.  This  additional  consideration  has  at  last  induced  me  to 
risk  the  publication  of  this  Essay.  The  experience  of  five  more,  years, 
6ince  it  was  written,  has  not  contradicted  any  of  the  opinions  then  ad- 
vanced— and  no  change  has  been  made  in  the  work,  except  iu  form,  and  by 
continuing  the  reports  of  experiments  to  the  present  time. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  my  attempt  to  convey  instruction  is  con- 
fined to  a  single  means  of  improving  our  lauds,  and  increasing  our  profits ; 
and  though  many  other  operations  are,  from  necessity,  incidentally  noticed, 
my  opinions  or  practices  on  such  subjects  are  not  referred  to  as  furnishing 
rules  for  good  husbandry.  In  using  calcareous  manure  for  the  improve- 
ment of  poor  soils,  my  labours  have  been  highly  successful ;  but  that  suc- 
cess is  not  necessarily  accompanied  by  general  good  management  and 
economy.  To  those  who  know  me  intimately,  it  would  be  unnecessary  to 
confess  the  small  pretensions  that  I  have  to  the  character  of  a  good  farmer ; 
but  to  others  it  may  be  required,  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  why  other 
improvements  and  practices  of  good  husbandry  have  not  more  aided,  and 
kept  pace  with,  the  effects  of  my  use  of  calcareous  manures.  E.  R 

1'rince  George  county,  Virginia,  January  20tk,  1832. 


Tiii  PREFACE   TO   THE   EDITION    OF    1835.    ' 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE 
PREFACE  TO  THE  EDITION  OF  1835. 

Whb>  the  preceding '  edition  of  this  Essay  -was  published,  it-met  with  a're- 
ception  far  more  favourable,  and  a  demand  from  purchasers  much  greater, 
than  the  author's  anticipations  had  reached:  and  it  is  merely  in  accordance 
■with  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the  many  agriculturists  who  have  since 
expressed  and  published  opinions  on  the  subject,  to  say  that  the  publication 
baa  already  had  great  and  valuable  effects  in  directing  attention,  and  in- 
ducing successful  effbrte,  t<<  the  improvement  of  land  by  calcareous  ma- 
mires.  Experimental  knowledge  on  this  head  has  probably  been  more  than 
doubled  within  the  last  two  years:  and  the  narrow  limits  of  the  region 
within  which  marling  had  previously  been  confined,  have  been  enlarged  to 
perhaps  ten-fold  their  former  extent.  Still,  the  circumstances  now  existing, 
however  changed  for  the  better,  present  a  mere  beginning  of  the  immense 
and  valuable  improvements  of  soil,  and  increase  of  profits,  that  must  here- 
after grow  out  of  the  use  of  calcareous  manures,  if  tluir  operation  is  pro- 
perly understood  by  those  who  apply  them.  But  if  used  without  that  know- 
ledge, their  great  value  will  certainly  not  be  found:  and  indeed,  they  will 
often  cause  more  loss  than  profit.  It  is  therefore  not  so  important  to  the 
farmers  of  our  country  at  large  to  be  convinced  of  the  general  and  great 
value  of  calcareous  manures — and  to  those  in  the  great  Atlantic  tide-water 
bo  know  the  newly  established  truth,  that  their  beds  of  fossil  shells 
furnish  the  best  and  cheapest  of  manures — as  it  is,  that  all  should  know 
in  what  manner,  and  by  what  general  laws,  these  manures  operate — how 
they  produce  benefit,  and  when  they  may  be  either  worthless  or  injurious. 
And  this  more  important  end,  the  author  regrets  to  believe  has  as  yet 
scarcely  been  even  partially  attained,  by  the  dissemination  and  proper  un- 
derstanding of  correct  views  of  the  subject.  Of  course  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  this  Essay  has  been  read  (if  even  heard  of)  by  one  in  ten  of  the 
many  who  have  been  prompted  by  verbal  information  to  attempt  the  prac- 
tice it  recommends  :  and  of  those  who  have  real,  and  who  have  even  ex- 
pressed warm  approbation  of  the  work,  it  has  seldom  been  found  that  their 
praise  was  discriminating,  or  founded  upon  a  thorough  examination  of  its 
reasoning  and  theoretical  views,  on  which  principally  rests  whatever  value 
it  may  possess.  For  all  persons  who  are  so  easily  convinced,  it  may  truly 
be  said,  that  the  volume  embraced  nothing  more,  and  was  worth  no  more, 
than  would  be  stated  in  these  few  words — "the  application  of  calcareous 
manures  will  be  found  highly  improving  and  profitable."  It  is  not  there- 
fore at  all  strange  that  the  attentive  reading  of  a  volume,  to  obtain  this 
truth,  was  generally  deemed  unnecessary. 

Though  the  previous  edition  of  this  work  has  been  nearly  exhausted,  the 
circulation  has  as  yet  been  almost  confined  to  that  small  portion  of  the 
state  of  Virginia  alone  in  which  the  mode  of  improvement  recommended  had 
previously  been  successfully  commenced,  or  had  at  least  attracted  much  at- 
tention. But  this  district  is  not  better  fitted  to  be  thus  improved  than  the 
remainder  of  the  great  tide-water  region  stretching  from  Long  Island  to 
Mobile — and  to  a  great  part  of  which  calcareous  manures  may  be  cheaply 
applied.  It  is  only  in  parts  of  Maryland  ana  Virginia  that  many  extensive 
and  highly  profitable  applications  of  fossil  shells,  or  marl,  have  been  yet 
■nade.  In  North  Carolina  the  value  of  the  manure  has  been  but  lately  tried ; 
in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  no  notice  of  it  has  yet  been  taken,  or  at 
least  has  yet  been  made  known:  and  in  Florida  and  Alabama  [parts  of 
which  are  peculiarly  suited  to  receive  these  benefits),  it  is  most  erron 
thought  that  such  improvements  are  only  profitable  for  long  settled  and 
impoverished  countries.  *  *  *  *  *  * 


PREFACE    TO    THE   EDITION    OE    1842.  IX 

P>ut  {hough  the  circulation  of  this  work  will  be  most  useful  through  the 
great  tide-water  region,  which  is  so  generally  supplied  with  underlying 
beds  of  fossil  shells,  and  so  much  of  the  soil  of  which  especially  needs 
such  manure,  still  the  assertion  may  be  ventured  that  there  is  no  part  of 
the  country  where  the  views  presented,  if  true,  are  not  important  to  be 
known  ;  and,  if  known,  would  not  be  highly  useful  to  aid  the  improvement 
of  soils.  It  is  to  the  general  theory  of  the  constitution  of  fertile  and 
barren  soils,  that  the  attention  and  severe  scrutiny  of  both  scientific  and 
practical  agriculturists  arc  invited  ;  and  to  the  several  minor  points  them 
presented,  which  are  either  altogether  new,  or  not  established  by  autho- 
rity— such  as  the  doctrine  of  acidity  in  soils — of  the  incapacity  of  poor 
and  acid  soils  to  be  enriched — and  of  the  entire  absence  of  carbonate  of 
lime  in  most  of  the  soils  of  this  country. 

April,  1835. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE 
PREFACE  TO  THE  EDITION  OF  1842. 

In  the  few  years  which  have  passed  since  the  issue  of  the  preceding 
edition,  it  is  believed  that  the  use  of  marl  and  lime,  in  lower  Virginia,  has 
been  extended  over  thrice  as  much  land  as  had  been  previously  thus  im- 
proved ;  and  the  previous  clear  income  of  the  farmers  thus  fertilizing  their 
lands  has  probably  been  already  thereby  increased  in  amount  by  several 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  and  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  lands 
raised  by  as  many  millions.  These  great  augmentations  of  annual  profits 
and  of  the  true  value  of  landed  capital,  from  this  single  source,  if*  they 
could  be  accurately  estimated,  would  be  seen  to  have  produced  an  important 
item  of  additional  revenue  to  the  treasury  of  the  commonwealth.  And 
these  additions  of  wealth  to  individuals  and  to  the  state,  would  be  obvious 
as  well  as  real,  but  for  the  existence  of  other  circumstances  which  have 
operated  to  counteract  or  to  disguise  the  proper  results.  The  most  im- 
portant of  such  influences  will  be  merely  referred  to  here  iu  the  cursory 
manner  only  that  the  occasion  permits. 

In  the  first  place — besides  the  deservedly  very  low  appreciation  of  all 
lands  in  Virginia,  founded  on  the  smallness  of  their  products,  the  market 
prices  were  formerly  still  more  reduced  by  the  almost  universal  urgent  de- 
eire  of  proprietors  to  sell,  that  they  might  be  enabled  then  to  emigrate  to 
the  new  and  rich  lands  of  the  west.  The  impossibility  of  selling,  even  at 
the  lowest  valuation  price,  was  the  only  thing  which  prevented  the  actual 
flood  of  emigration  being  so  much  more  swelled  as  to  leave  half  our  lands 
unoccupied  and  waste.  If  purchasers  had  but  presented  themselves,  fully 
half  the  farms  in  Prince  George  county  (and  it  is  presumed  of  many  other 
counties)  might  have  been  bought  up  at  a  considerable  deduction  from  the 
lowest  estimated  value  ;  and  all  the  sellers  would  have  removed,  with  all 
their  capital,  to  the  western  wilderness.  To  the  then  actual  and  regular 
flow  of  emigration  from  the  now  marling  district,  an  effectual  barrier  has 
been  opposed  by  the  introduction  of  that  mode  of  improvement.  All  emi- 
gration has  ceased  wherever  by  trial  of  this  means  the  cultivators  of  the 
land  found  their  labours  to  be  richly  repaid.  Thus,  in  estimating  the  gains 
of  individuals  and  of  the  state,  on  this  score,  the  comparison  should  be 
made,  not  with  the  value  of  property  and  population  which  remained 
twenty  years  ago,  but  with  what  would  have  remained  now,  if  the  then 
existing  inducements  to  emigration  had  continued  to  go  on  and  to  increase, 
as  they  would  have  done,  with  time. 

Next — the  actual  increase  of  intrinsic  value  of  marled  lands  is  far  from 
being  even  yet  fully  appreciated,  because  of  the  generally  prevailing  and 


X  PREFACE   TO    THE    EDITION    OF    1842. 

very  erroneous  mode  of  estimating  the  values  of  the  increase  of  permanent 
net  income  from  land,  (as  will  be  made  manifest  in  a  part  of  this  Essay — ) 
and  but  few  even  of  those  persons  who  have  obtained  such  values  by  marl- 
ing; their  lands,  would  estimate  them  at  one-fourth  of  their  true  amount. 
The  source  of  any  permanent  net  increase  of  only  $6  of  annual  income  from 
land,  adds  $100  to  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  land.  And  this  proposition 
is  not  the  less  true,  and  to  the  full  extent  asserted,  even  though  the  esti- 
mate of  private  purchasers  and  sellers,  and  of  public  assessors  of  lands, 
may  all  count  for  the  market  price  but  a  small  proportion  Of  the  increased 
real  value. 

Next — even  whatever  of  new  appreciation  the  foregoing  influences  might 
have  permitted  to  be  exhibited  in  the  increased  market  price  of  lands,  and 
Etill  more  their  new  real  value,  have  been  disguised,  or  altogether  concealed, 
by  the  great  and  frequent  fluctuations  of  all  market  prices  of  property, 
and  by  the  general  misdirections  of  capital  and  industry,  all  caused  by  the 
universal  individual  and  national  gambling  (whether  voluntary  or  compul- 
sory), at  the  maddening  and  ruinous  game  of  paper-money  banking — to 
which  system  of  delusion  and  fraud  this  otherwise  most  blessed  country 
and  fortunate  people  are  indebted  for  so  much  of  disaster,  loss,  and,  still 
worse,  of  wide-spread  corruption  of  habits  and  morals.  The  enormous 
apparent  and  illusory  profits  promised  by  this  system,  and  by  the  stock- 
jobbers who  alone  have  fattened  upon  the  facilities  it  offered  for  fraud  and 
plunder,  served  powerfully  to  depress  the  market  price  of  lands,  and  to 
discourage  agricultural  investments  and  pursuits.  For,  whatever  actual 
profits  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of  the  soil  might  offer  to  reward 
the  care  and  labour  of  the  proprietor,  the  stocks  of  various  corporations, 
falsely  appreciated  by  means  of  a  bloated  paper  currency,  and  by  the  arts 
of  stockjobbers,  premised  much  higher  profits,  without  requiring  either 
care,  labour,  or  risk.  Thus,  the  higher  that  fictitious  dividends  of  profits 
or  the  false  values  of  stocks  rose,  and  the  stronger  became  the  induce- 
ments to  make  stock  investments,  the  more  the  prices  of  lands  sank  (com- 
paratively) below  their  true  value,  because  of  the  general  disposition  to 
convert  landed  capital  to  stock  capital.  But  the  real  and  solid  increase  of 
income  and  of  wealth  to  individuals  and  to  the  commonwealth,  caused  by 
the  permanent  improvement  of  the  soil,  is  not  the  less  certain,  or  the  less 
profitable,  because  fictitious  appreciations  of  values,  caused  by  the  fraudu- 
lent banking  system,  and  the  consequent  speculations  and  madness  of  its 
votaries  and  victims,  have  been  both  so  much  higher  and  lower,  at  differ- 
ent times,  as  to  make  the  amount  of  actual  improved  values  appear  small 
in  comparison,  even  if  they  were  not  thereby  entirely  concealed.  But 
these  delusive  and  ruinous  causes  of  fluctuating  prices  and  values  are  now 
fast  showing  their  emptiness,  and  vanishing  from  view  :  and  whenever  the 
fraudulent  paper  system  shall  be  completely  exposed  and  entirely  exploded, 
then  both  lands  and  the  paper-money  system  will  be  estimated  at  their  true 
value.     May  the  consummation  be  speedy,  complete,  and  final ! 

But  even  though,  if  properly  and  accurately  estimated,  the  true  valuo 
of  the  lands  already  marled  and  limed  in  Virginia  has  been  increased  to 
the  amount  of  millions  of  dollars,  the  gain  is  very  small  compared  to  that 
which  yet  remains  ready  to  be  obtained.  Marling  has  not  yet  been 
extended  over  the  hundredth  part  of  the  surface  to  which  it  may  be  pro- 
fitably applied ;  and  liming,  not  to  the  ten-thousandth  part  of  the  lands 
of  the  state  to  which  lime  may  be  brought.  And  elsewhere,  with  the 
exception  of  a  small  part  of  Maryland,  the  beginnings  of  marling  only 
have  as  yet  been  made.  Nevertheless,  these  beginnings  are  the  widely- 
scattered  seeds  which  will  spring  up  and  spread,  and  hereafter  yield 
abundant  harvests. 

December,  1842. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface  to  fifth  edition iii 

Preface  to  earlier  editions vi 

Chapter  I. — Introductory.     General  description  of  agricultural  earths 
and  soils.     Physical  and  chemical  constituents  of  soils. 

Difficulties  of  defining  earths  and  soils,  17,  IS.  Chemists'  definitions  unsuitable  for  agricul- 
ture, IS.  Agricultural  earths,  19.  Siliceous  earth,  19.  Aluminous,  20.  Calcareous,  20; 
different  definitions  thereof  by  authors,  22.  Chalk,  23.  Magnesiau  earth,  24.  Humus, 
25.  toils  aud  sub-soils,  25.  Constituents  of  soils,  26,  and  of  sub-soils,  27.  Physical  and 
chemical  constituents,  28,  29,  30.    Nomenclature  and  definitions  of  soils,  31,  32,  33. 

Chap.  II. —  On  the  soils  and  state  of  agricidture  of  the  Tide-ivater  Dis- 
trict of  Virginia. 

General  features  of  the  district  and  its  soils,  34,  36.  Ridges,  35.  Slopes,  35,  36.  River  mar- 
gins and  alluvial  lands,  36.  Exhausting  tillage  and  small  products,  36.  Decreasing  popu- 
lation, 3S.    Hopeless  of  improvement  under  existing  circumstances,  39. 

Chap.  III. — The  dijferent  capacities  of  soils  for  improvement. 

Five  principal  propositions  stated  for  discussion,  39.  Natural  fertility  defined,  40.  Perma- 
nency of  either  fertile  or  sterile  character  of  different  countries  and  soils,  41.  Land  natu- 
rally poor  not  capable  of  being  enriched  by  putrescent  manures,  41,  42.  Opposing  opinions 
and  authorities,  43,  45.  Facts  in  support,  44.  The  degree  of  original  fertility  tho  limit  of 
profitable  improvement  by  putrescent  manures,  46,  47. 

Chap.  IV. — Effects  of  the  presence  of  calcareous  earth. 

Calcareous  earth  not  found  in  our  poor  soils,  48.  Its  presence  indicating  great  fertility,  48. 
Natural  growths  on  shelly  and  on  poor  soils,  49.  All  authority  supports  the  general  pre- 
sence of  carbonate  of  lime  in  soils,  50  to  53.  Soils  rarely  calcareous  in  Virginia,  54.  Re- 
cent confirming  testimony  (note),'  54,  55. 

Chap.  V. — Results  of  chemical  examinations  of  various  soils. 

Methods  for  testing  the  presence  or  absence  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  soils,  58  to  59.  Various 
soils  tested — calcareous,  59  to  61.  All  known  calcareous  soils  rich,  and  no  poor  soil  calca- 
reous, 61. 

Chap.  VI. — Chemical  examination  of  rich  soils  containing  no  calcareous 

earth. 

Rich  river  lands,  C2 — and  also  mountain  lime-stone  soils,  63  to  65.  Trairie  soils  of  Alabama 
generally  highly  calcareous,  or  super-calcareous,  66,  67. 

Chap.  VII. — Proofs  oftlie  existence  of  acid  and  neutral  soils. 

lime  in  some  form  present  in  every  soil,  68.  Acid  not  considered  an  ingredient  of  soil  by 
any  writers  of  authority,  and  denied  by  others,  69,  70.  Proofs  of  acidity  in  soil,  70. 
Growth  of  acid  plants.  71.  Nourished  best  by  dead  acid  plants,  71,  72.  By  other  putres- 
cent manures,  72.  Acid  poisonous  to  cultivated  plants.  73.  Disappearance  of  carbonate  of 
lime  in  cultivated  soils,  75  to  SO.  Wood  ashes  contain  lime,  81,  82.  Scientific  confirmation 
of  add  in  soil,  82  to  88.  Discovery  of  humic  acid,  83 ;  its  properties,  86.  Successive  natu- 
ral changes  of  chemical  character  in  soils,  S8,  89,  90.  Testimony  of  Loudon  of  originality 
of  doctrine  (note),  91. 

Chap.  VIII. — The  mode  of  operation  by  which  calcareous  earth  increases 
tJie  fertility  and  productiveness  of  soils. 

SBicioua  and  aluminous  earths  have  no  chemical  power  to  retain  putrescent  manure,  92, 
93,  94.  Calcareous  earth,  has  such  power,  and  how,  94,  95.  Examples  of  combining  opera- 
tions, 95.  Power  of  fixing  fertilizing  matters  in  soils.  96.  Power  of  neutralizing  injurious 
acids,  97,  93.     Power  of  altering  and  improving  texture  of  both  sandy  and  clayey  soils,  98, 

TO 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

99,  and  of  lc-.soning  evils  of  too  much  dryness  and  moisture,  99.  Lime  a  necessary  food 
for  plants,  but  only  within  narrow  iiniita'tion,  100,  lol.  Proportions  of  lime  in  ashes  of 
various  plants,  102.  __ 

Chap.  IX. — Action  of  caustic  time  as  manure. 

Davy's  theory  of  liming  stated,  lU.X  Applied  to  practice,  104.  Action  of  caustic  lime  gene- 
rally to  1  e  avoided,  104.  Lime  acts  generally  as  carbonate,  105.  form  of  classification  of 
manures,  10(3. 

Chap.  X. — Introductory  and  general  observations  on  marl  and  lime. 

Fossil  shells,  improperly  called  marl,  107.  Incorrect  use  of  terms  in  England.  10S-9.  Dif- 
ferent and  general  misapplications  of  the  name  of  ••marl"  (note),  109,  and  of  "marling" 
(note),  110.  "Liming,"  in  practice,  equivalent  to  marling.  110  to  113.  Preliminary 
remarks  on  experiments,  114.     Oldest  applications  of  marl  in  Virginia,  114. 

Chap.  XI. — Experiments  with,  and  effects  of,  calcareous  manures  on  acid 
sandy  soils,  newly  cleared. 

Experiments  stated,  and  earliest  and  later  results  on  light  and  acid  loam,  recently  brought 
\iuder  cultivation,  116  to  122.    Errors  in  the  mod.e  of  experimenting  stated,  122-4. 

Chap.  XII. — Effects  of  calcareous  manures  on  acid  clay  (or  stiff)  soils 
recently  cleared. 

Description  of  the  peculiar  soil  operated  on,  124.  Experiments  and  results  stated,  125  to 
129.    Pomarkable  effects  on  clover  and  grain  crops,  127  to  129. 

Chap.  XIII. — The  effects  of  calcareous  manures  on  acid  soils  reduced  by 

cidtivalion. 

Marling  always  effective  on  such  soils,  130.  Experiments  stated,  and  early  good  results.  130 
to  136.  Diseased  crops  of  grain  caused  by  excessive  mailing,  133.  Effects  of  marl  with 
putrescent  manure,  137,  138. 

Chap.  XIV. — Effects  of  calcareous  manures  on  "free  light  land." 

Character  of  such  soil,  139.    Experiments,  139, 140. 

Chap.  XV. — Effects  of  calcareous  manures  on  exhausted  acid  soils,  under 
their  second  growth  of  trees. 

Experiments  of  this  kind,  141,  142. 

Chap.  XVI. — Effects  of  calcareous  manures  alone,  or  witli  gypsum,  on 
calcareous  and  neutral  soils. 

Inefficiency  of  marl  on  such  soils,  143.    Gypseous  marl,  144.    Experiments,  145  to  147. 

Chap.  XVII. — Digression  to  the  theory  of  the  action  of  gypsum  as  ma- 
nure.    Supposed  cause  of  its  want  of  power  and  value  on  acid  soils. 

General  inefficiency  of  gypsum  on  Atlantic  coast,  and  mistaken  views  as  to  the  cause,  147. 
Exceptions  on  neutral  soils,  148.  And  the  true  cause  of  usual  inefficiency,  149.  Theory 
of  this  inefficiency,  and  its  removal,  151  to  154. 

Chap.  XVIII. — The  damage  caused  by  too  heavy  dressings  of  calcareous 
manure,  and.  the  remedy. 

Earliest  effects  observed,  and  symptoms  described,  155.  Means  for  preventing  or  of  curing 
the  injur}',  156-7.  The  disease  found  ouly  on  soils  naturally  acid.  I"i7:  and  not  caused 
merely  by  excess  of  calcareous  earth,  15S,  and  probably  by  huraate  of  lime.  159. 

Chap.  XIX. — Recapitulation  and  more  full  statements  of  the  effects  of 
calcareous  manures. 

The  results  of  marling  have  conformed  to  previous  theoretical  views,  159.  Exceptions  above 
the  granite  range,  and  causes,  161.  Hazel  loam,  161.  Effects  of  calcareous  manure  pro- 
portioned to  the  organic  matter  in  soil,  162.  Marl  on  "  galls,"  163.  Prevents  the  washing 
effects  by  rain-,  ami  the  moving  of  sandy  soils  by  winds,  104.  Quantities  of  marl  to  be 
applied,  166.  Effects  in  preserving  vegetable  matter  from  waste,  167.  -'Free  light  land," 
and  its  speedy  exhaustion*  168.  Marling  deepens  soils,  109.  Gives  peculiar  value  to  sandy 
sub-soils,  170.  Hastens  maturing  of  orops — cotton — wheat,  170.  Strengthens  straw  of 
wheat,  171.  Peculiar  benefits  to  leguminous  plants,  and  especially  to  clover,  172.  and  to 
some  bad  weeds,  17  S.  Failures  of  clover  on  marled  lands,  173.  Effect  of  cabling  in  eradicat- 
ing acid  plants,  174-5. 


CONTENTS.  X1H 

Chap.  XX.— Directions  for  the  use  of  marl  in  connexion  with  other 
farm  ing  operations. 

Usual  difficulties  of  beginners  without  reason.  170.    The  labours  to  *J&*£^<%jg£. 

ous  170.  Necessity  for  intermixing  marl  regularly  With  the  soil,  176-7.  Mam  ci  ot  drop 
,,  -ml  sproadin-  heaps,  177.  Organic  manure  an  essentia!  aCMmpanlment,  177,  178, 
S%Sd I  by ^getahle  growth  of  ttottdf,  178.  Orainary  farm-made  manures,  1.9;  other 
materials,  180. 

Chap.  XXI.— Actual  improvements  and  restdts  of  marling.     Pecidiar 
value  of  sandy  soils. 

Causes  of  defective  results  of  earliest  marling  labours,  181-2.     Actual  results  on  CoggtaS 

i'uint  f ,rm    t,    184J,  1S3.     Crops  from  1813  to  1851,181.     Remarks  and  notes  on  same, 

*'"       CuUire  and  crops  on  Marlbourne,  187-8.    Causes  of  neglect  of  marling  and  small 

effects,  is"! Value  of  sandy  soils,  190.    Poor  soils  of  lower  Virgin*  alflO  very  shallow,  191. 

Rates  of  Increase  of  products  from  marling,  on  different  lands,  192. 

Ch\p.  XXII.— The  extent  of  duration  of  the  effects  of  calcareous  manures. 

Duration  of  effects  known  by  experience,  192-4.  ?»^^^^^^L^^ 
of  duration  of  calxing,  190.  Practice  and  opinions  in  Britain,  10-,  198.  Alleged  reasons 
for  waste  of  lime  in  so  Is,  and  answers  thereto,  199  to  211.     Sinking  of  lime  in  so.     211, 

?-l-  1  le  t  f  organic  .or  putrescent)  manures  made  permanent  by  combinat.on  w.  h  cal- 
;,-Wu=  214  to210.  Apparent  exceptions,  217.  Actual  duration  of  effects,  21S  Antic- 
,"ted  progress  of  improvement,  and  tixing  of  organic  matter  by  calxing,  219-and  of  steri- 
lity caused,  under  reverse  circumstances,  220. 

Chap.  XXIIL—  General  observations  on  the  valuations  of  lands  and  their 
"  improvements,  and  the  expenses  and  profits  of  marling. 

Tibial  estimates  aUo<*ether  erroneous,  221.  True  mode  of  estimating  values,  222  to  225. 
Supply  Zl  demand  regulate  selling  prices  of  lands,  227.  Injudicious  marling  labours, 
228.    General  profits,  229. 

Chap.  XXIV.—  Other  fertilizing  potcers  and  effects  of  calcareous  earth. 

Soils  of  ancient  alluvial  formation  (or  latter  drift),  230.  Effects  of  calxing  thereon,  231  to 
933  Action  of  calx  bv  solvent  power,  231.  Sterility,  when  caused  by  ca  x.ng.  and  low, 
235' to  237 T  Benefit  of  lenient  cropping,  237,  and  supplying .vegetable  inn  tor,  «.  Erro- 
neous practice  in  South  Carolina,  239  to  241.  Organic  matter  «  #8*^  242 ;] ^WCOB*l. 
tuted  243.  Proportions  of  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  azote  in  plants,  244.  Whence 
derived,  240  to  248.  Supply  of  carbon  from  the  atmosphere  increased  on  calcareous  so  1 
218  to  250.  Dr.  Wight's  experiments  thereupon,  250  to  25  L  Otter  proofe^ *^££ 
supplied  from  the  atmosphere  through  leguminous  plants,  253  to  257.  then  peculiar  ma 
n  rin'  efforts  thus  caused,  258.  Residue  of  roots  of  clover,  Ac...  259.  Value  of  the  south- 
ern firtd  pea  (or  bean),  201.  Recapitulation,  202.  Effect  of  lime  in  soils  and  compost 
lTeaps  to  produce  nitrates.  203.  This  explains  some  practical  results  before  not  understood 
•'on'  207  Effect  of  lime  in  promoting  the  healthy  constitution  and  vigorous  growth  of 
plants,  207,  208,  and  the  better  quality  of  products,  208. 

Chap.  XXV. The  use  of  calcareous  earth  recommended  to  preserve 

'  putrescent  manures,  and  to  promote  cleanliness  and  health. 

Effects  of  calcareous  earth  in  preventing  waste  of  products  of  animal  matter  209,  278.  Cases 
for  use  of  this  power  271  to  274.  Unfitness  of  quick-lime  for  this  purpose,  274.  Benefit  in 
PlUenti  f  d  srease  275  270.  How  the  burning  of  towns  benefit,  health  277.  Benefits  to 
health  of  calcareous  soil  in  Alabama,  278-in  Virginia,  279  to  281-m  1  ranee,  281,  2S3- 
in  England,  283. 

Chap.  XXVI.— The  excavation  of  marl-pits,  and  carrying  out  and  ap- 
plying marl. 

,,.,,.      ,  oqi     Wot  marl  in  hillv  lands,  285.    Method  of  opening  and  work- 

"KrttaSSS?  Z  r  '  SStem  Draining  the  excavation,  289,  290.  Deep  pitting  290. 
mg  pits  ot  sum  man,  _      >■/  Makimx  roads.  295.     Implements  and  carts   for 

££?»!    ftSSfiS^wS  tables^estiniates,  299Pto  302.    Importance  of 
marling  labours  being  continuous,  303. 

Cn  vp    XXVII  —Directions  for  the  searching  for  and  testing  of  marl. 

^arching   for   marl    304,    ^JfJ^SLS^^^SiJSlJ^S^ 

S^tnL^TSJL S ^SSSS  310  to  313!    Distant  transportation  of  marl,  313 

to  317. 

O 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

Cn.vr.  XXVIII. — Est!, nates  ofilie  cost  of  labour  applied  to  marling. 

The  pi  -.  3T*.    Cost  of  the  lal-our  of  a   negro  man?  319 — r.f  l*rr, 

.  rse  and  mu'        .  f  carta  ar.<l  implements, 

321.     -  as  of  margin.-.    -- 

Chat.  XXIX. — Details  of  actual  and  extensive  marling  labours. 

A  .   low-lying  and  wet  marl,  327.    Marl  and  accompanying  leds  described, 

n  in  sniaD  perpendicular  pits.  329.     Horizontal  plan  330-31. 

Beginning  and  pro;  .  -      mole,  --A  . 

ma:  ■  w.irk.  and  remarks,  336  to  341.  marl  in  large  graduated 

■  350.    ^aTii:_-  -  •  various  dis- 

tances, and  rule  :  .  I  of  large  excavations,.  354.    Quantity  of  marl 

remove 

Chap.  XXX. — The  progress  of  marling  in  Virginia. 
Usual  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  all  new  improvers  en  inning 

an  i  ;  .  in  Virginia,  and  general  c  2).  •.     liming, 

E  the  use  of  calcareous  manures  in  Virginia  (to  lsJ-0),  on  valuci  of 
lac  >XI  to  3C3. 


APPENDIX. 

iuctory  remarks 363 

Xote  I. — Additional  proof  offered  in  ilie  production  and  ezisteif- 
black  waters,  of  the  action  of  lime  in  combining  vegetable  matters  iciih 
soil. 

waters  of  certain  streams  and  ponds,  and  absence  of  colouring  matter  in  others.  363  to 
365.  Causes,  365.  Proofs  and  illustrations,  306.  Clearness  of  lime-stone  water,  307.  Facta 
and  causes  of  black  waters,  368  to  371. 

N  "--  II. — The  statements  of  British  authors  on   "marl,"   and  iltcir 
applications  of  the  name  generally  incorret  i  contradictory. 

(1-3  :~ect  definition-  of  a 

:    t  known  to  1 
077  to  380.     American   opinions  dc-lv. 

V.nown  calcareous  p  f  modern  wri  \rthur 

:  Lord  Earn  -  mariiug  not 

make  soil  ca".  as  of 

carl  I  Xew 

York  calcareous.  39L     Marsh  f  marl   and    .  L  to  •";•*.    Errors  of 

or  marl  of  Virginia  I  in  Europe,  • 
tge  of  France.        -  : 

Yirgj  .  -.490.    Marl  and  marling  of  the  ancient;—  Yarro 

and  1'liny,  401-2. 

Xote  III. — The  earliest  known  successful  applications  of  fossil  shells  as 

manure. 

01  mmHeeBBAu,  403-4.    Fir=*.  successful  use  in  v; 

lar. .  ing  opinion,  406.    Marling  of  JcO, 

Mote  IV. — First  views  which  led  to  marling  in  Prince  George  county. 

The  :  1  errors  in  farming,  410-11.    Former  ce: 

of  his  land,  and   goura  -.  412.     Taylor  -  .  i   in 

soii-  ."  rt  in  marline:.  41'".  and  tir 

of  consti:-:  118  to  420.     E  four 

-'..  421.    -Ka-  1  first  "ijn  of  example,  4-2-;;.  urs, 

42:>4.     Damage  caused  by  marli;. . 

X  7i  V.—  ion  and  account  of  the  different  marl,  ami 

of  the  gypseous  earth  of  the  tide-water  region  of  Virginia. 

:.;ition  to  be  offered,  427.    Character,  constitnti  .'.:'  n  c.f  true 

marl,  42$  to  430  Chalk  and  rotten  lime-stone.  432.   Travertin, 


CONTEXTS.  XV 

433.  Arglllo-ealcareoTis,  or  true  marl,  433.  Shell-sand,  434.  Shell -marl,  ns  understood  in 
Britain,  4.'.4-">.  Tertiary  fossil  shell  marl  (in  Virginia),  4:;.")-'').  Miocene  marl,  437  to  440, 
Varieties.  441  to  448.    <.'r\  stp.lli/stioii  in  marl,  443-4.    Loss  of  c  ts  of  marl,  448. 

Comparative  values,  449.  Eocene  marl,  460;  of  Coggins  r.  int,  450-1.  Extent  of  same  kind, 
462.  Qualities,  463.  Other  eocene  marl?.  464  Gypseous  earth,  454  Gypseous  earth  of  James 
river,  455  to  475.  Green-sand,  468.  Use  of  gypseous  earth  as  manure,  459.  Sul]  buret  of  iron 
(and  gypsum)  contained,  460.  The  various  strata  at  Evergreen,  462  to  164.  At  Ooggina 
Point,  4tjj>  to  4iJ7.  Harrison's  Bar  of  gypseous  earth.  467.  Green-sand  ol  New  Jersey,  468. 
Analyses  of  green-sands  of  Europe  and  America,  469-70,  Analyses  of  gypseous  earth  of 
Coggins  Point,  471  to  478.  Gypsum  the  main  operating  ingredient,  474  Boeai 
sand  (or  gypseons)  marl  of  Pamnnkey,  475  to  482.  Different  layers  described,  476  to  479. 
Olive  earth.  479-80.  Gypseous  earth  of  Pamnnkey,  481-2.  All  appreciable  effects  due,  not 
t'  green-sand,  but  to  gypsum,  482.  Position  and  order  of  snee  •-  i  in  of  the  different  layers 
of  the  Pamunkey  eocene,  !x:;  to  4x5.  Bnlphuret  of  iron  in  gypseous  earth  and  some  marls, 
486-7.  Alleged  existence  of  green-sand,  in  quantity,  in  ordinary  mioceno  maris,  4^7-s. 
The  assertion  disproved.  4S9  to  491.  Peculiar  miocene,  of  Uampstoud  bed  only,  known  to 
contain  green-sand  in  considerable  proportion,  4'Jl  to  41)3. 


AN  ESSAY 


ox 


CALCAREOUS  MANURES. 


CHAPTER  I.— Introductory. 

GENERAL   DESCRIPTION    OP  AGRICULTURAL  EARTHS  AND  SOILS. 

PHYSICAL  AND  CHEMICAL  CONSTITUENTS  OP  SOILS. 

In  discussions  or  instructions  upon  the  fertilization  of  land,  it 
is  an  important  requisite  that  we  should  correctly  distinguish  be- 
tween earths  and  soils,  and  the  many  varieties  of  the  latter  com- 
pound bodies.  Yet  the  terms  used  for  this  purpose,  are  generally 
misapplied  ;  and  even  among  writers  of  high  reputation  and  autho- 
rity, no  two  agree  in  their  definitions  of  soils,  or  modes  of  classifi- 
cation. That  such  differences  of  definition,  and  contradiction  of 
terms,  should  exist,  will  appear  the  less  strange,  and  the  resulting 
errors  the  more  excusable,  to  those  readers  who  have  most  care- 
fully studied  this  branch  of  agricultural  science,  and  who,  therefore, 
can  best  appreciate  the  difficulties  of  the  required  classification. 
Each  writer  on  soils  is  compelled  to  use  terms  in  senses  different 
from  the  greater  number  of  his  many  predecessors ;  because  but 
few  of  them  have  concurred  in  even  the  most  important  definitions. 
Where  such  great  differences  exist,  and  where  no  one  known  plan 
of  nomenclature  is  so  free  from  material  imperfections  as  to  bo 
referred  to  as  a  standard  of  authority,  it  becomes  necessary  for 
every  one  who  treats  on  soils  to  define  for  himself ;  though  perhaps 
he  may  thereby  add  still  more  to  the  general  mass  of  confusion 
previously  existing.  This  necessity  must  serve  to  excuse  the  writer 
for  whatever  is  new,  unauthorized,  or  confessedly  defective  in  the 
definitions  and  terms  which  will  be  here  adopted,  and  used  as 
required  hereafter  through  this  treatise.  It  would  be  inferred  by 
most  readers,  from  the  general  heading  alone,  that  this  introductory 
chapter  must  consist  mainly  of  definitions  and  explanations  already 
established  by  scientific  authority,  and  generally  received  by  and 
known  to  well-informed  agriculturists.  This  inference  would  be 
correct  to  a  considerable  extent :  nevertheless,  there  will  be  many 
2*  (17) 

Library 

N.   C.  State   College 


18  DIFFICULTY   OF   DEFINING   EARTHS   AND   SOILS. 

of  the  views  which  are  either  new  and  unsupported,  or  entirely 
opposed  to  all  existing  authority;  and  which  will  require  to  be 
understood  and  borne  in  mind  by  all  who  desire  to  study  with  pro- 
per advantage  the  theory  of  fertilization  which  will  be  presented 
and  maintained  in  this  essay. 

Previous  to  the  recent  attention  of  chemists  directed  to  agricul- 
ture, which  may  be  said  to  have  begun  with  the  publication  of 
Davy's  admirable  and  very  valuable  (though  necessarily  very  im- 
perfect) work  on  the  "  Elements  of  Agricultural  Chemistry," 
agricultural  writers  had  defined  and  described  soils  by  their  quali- 
ties obvious  to  the  senses,  and  without  much,  if  any,  regard  to 
their  chemical,  or  even  their  physical  constitution.  Of  course 
they  were  often  in  error;  as  the  sensible  qualities,  or  textures  of 
soils,  do  not  always  quadrate  with,  or  conform  to  the  proportions 
or  kinds  of  their  materials.  For  example :  an  open  and  light  soil, 
is  most  generally  made  so  by  an  excess  of  silicious  sand  ;  but  occa- 
sionally soils  owe  their  possessing  this  texture  to  an  excess  of 
humus  or  vegetable  matter,  or  of  chalk ;  and  which  soils  may  be 
greatly  deficient  in  sand,  and  would  be  rendered  even  more  com- 
pact by  an  addition  of  this  earth.  Again  :  the  closeness  and  in- 
tractability of  a  soil  is  generally  owing  to  the  excess  of  clay ;  but 
a  soil  superabounding  in  clay,  with  large  intermixture  of  vegetable 
and  calcareous  earths,  may  be  much  more  friable  and  light  than 
another  with  much  less  clay,  and  much  more  of  silicious  sand  in  a 
very  finely  divided  state. 

More  recently,  when  many  men  of  science  took  their  present 
ground  as  co-labourers  in  agricultural  investigation,  they  brought 
to  bear,  on  this  branch  of  the  science,  terms  and  definitions  exact 
and  precise  enough  indeed,  they  being  those  recognised  'in  chemis- 
try ;  but  altogether  inapplicable  to  agriculture,  because  referring 
to  conditions  of  purity,  and  simplicity  of  composition,  having  no 
existence  in  nature,  nor  even  subject  to  the  observation  and  senses 
of  the  agriculturist.  Hence,  when  chemists,  using  their  scientific 
nomenclature,  attempt  to  instruct  farmers  of  the  composition  of 
soils,  and  refer  to  their  contents  of  the  chemical  earths  proper, 
alumina,  lime,  magnesia,  &c,  they  are  speaking  of  things  which 
have  no  existence  in  nature,  nor  even  in  agricultural  art ;  and  they 
might  as  well  go  farther  back  in  search  of  scientific  strictness,  and 
treat  of  the  elementary  parts  of  these  several  earths — that  is,  oxy- 
gen, with  the  metals  aluminum,  calcium,  and  magnesium,  respect- 
ively ;  which  elements  are  rarely  produced  or  preserved  separate, 
and  never  except  in  the  chemist's  laboratory.  The  substances 
known  in  chemistry  as  earths,  are,  indeed,  defined  with  precision, 
and  their  dis'.inguishing  properties  are  well  understood  by  those 
who  are  even  slightly  acquainted  with  that  science.  But  of  the 
nine  earths  known  to  chemists,  one  only,  silica,  exists  naturally  hi 


AGRICULTURAL   EARTHS.  19 

<i  state  of  purity,  or  uncompounded ;  and  in  this  state  of  purity  (as 
rock-crystal,  or  pure  quartz-rock),  it  can  have  no  action  whatever 
as  an  agricultural  earth.  Two  other  chemical  earths,  alumina  and 
lime,  are  only  found  combined  with  other  bodies;  and,  as  thus 
combined,  exhibiting  very  different  properties  from  the  pure  earths, 
which  can  be  produced  only  by  chemical  decomposition.  A  fourth 
earth,  magnesia,  likewise  is  never  found  uncombincd,  and  rarely 
in  other  than  very  minute  proportions,  and  always  intermixed 
with  other  earths,  so  as  to  be  imperceptible  by  the  senses.  The 
other  chemical  earths  (barytes,  strontian,  zircon,  &c.)  are  so  rarely 
found,  and  still  more  rarely  in  soil,  and  most  of  them  only  in  such 
minute  quantities  that,  as  to  any  influence  on  agriculture,  they  may 
be  deemed  as  non-existent.* 

These  few  preliminary  remarks  will  serve  to  expose  something 
of  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  and  clearly  denning  the  earths  of 
agriculture.  That  the  attempt  which  will  here  be  made  will  but 
imperfectly  reach  the  desired  object,  will  not  be  more  evident  to 
other  persons  than  to  the  writer. 

The  agricultural  earths  will  here  be  understood  as  bodies  natu- 
rally existing,  and,  when  separate,  as  pure  as  ever  presented  by 
nature;  and  of  which,  each  one,  except  humus,  is  composed  princi- 
pally of  some  one  chemical  earth.  They  are  five  in  number — silicious, 
aluminous,  calcareous,  magucsian,  and  vegetable  or  humus.  These 
agricultural  earths,  variously  intermixed,  serve  to  compose  the 
superficial  layer  of  the  globe.  This  layer,  more  or  less  productive 
of  vegetable  growth,  is  soil;  and  however  varying  in  different 
places,  all  soils,  for  almost  their  entire  bulk,  are  composed  of  one 
or  more  of  the  three  principal  agricultural  earths — the  silicious, 
aluminous,  and  calcareous,  with  more  or  less  of  humus,  or  vegetable 
mould.  It  is  convenient,  though  still  a  farther  departure  from 
scientific  strictness  of  definition,  to  include  humus  among  the  earths 
of  agriculture. 

1.   Silicious  earth  is  presented  in  the  cleanest,  most  crystalline, 

*  The  chemic.il  earths  are  combinations  of  different  metals  (winch  are 
known  only  in  these  combinations)  with  oxygen.  Before  Davy's  splendid 
discovery  of  these  metals,  and  their  combinations  with  oxygen,  the  earths 
were  supposed  to  be  simple  bodies,  or  incapable  of  being  decomposed.  A 
single  combination  of  one  of  these  very  rare  chemical  earths,  the  sulphate 
of  barytes.  has  been  recently  found  to  be  a  very  effective  manure,  acting 
on  clover  with  the  remarkable  power  of  sulphate  of  lime  (gypsum).  Pro" 
feasor  Armstrong,  of  Washington  College,  has  fully  tested  it  by  the  practi- 
cal use  of  the  earth  as  manure.  He  also  informed  me  that  the  sulphate 
of  barytes  was  found  in  some  part3  of  that  mountain  region  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  be  used  for  manuring,  in  the  small  proportions  required  for  its 
effects.  These  interesting  fact-;  do  nut  contradict  the  remarks  in  the  text 
above,  which  referred  to  barytes  and  the  ether  scarcer  earths  only  as  con- 
stituents of  soils. 


20  SILICIOUS   AND   ALUMINOUS    EARTHS. 

whitest,  and  purest  sand,  as  washed  and  deposited  by  rapid  streams, 
or  other  water  in  motion.     This,  the  very  abundant  agricultural 

or  natural  earth,  often  approaches  nearly  in  purity  to  the  chemical 
earth  silica.  Silicious  earth  generally  appears  as  sand ';  that  is, 
in  separate  and  loose  grains  of  small  size,  which  are  rugged  and 
irregular  in  shape,  usually  with  sharp  angles,  rough  to  the  touch, 
and  hard  enough  to  scratch  glass.  This  earth  is  not  soluble  in  any 
acid  except  the  fluoric,  and  cannot  be  made  coherent  by  any  mix- 
ture with  water.  The  solidity  of  the  particles  of  sand  renders  each 
one  impenetrable  by  water ;  and  their  loose  and  open  arrangement 
permits  water  to  pass  easily  through  the  mass.  The  same  condi- 
tions of  impenetrable  grains  and  loose  and  open  texture  cause  silicious 
earth  to  be  incapable  of  absorbing  moisture  from  the  air,  or  of  re- 
taining, with  any  force,  either  moisture  or  any  aerial  or  gaseous 
fluid  with  which  it  may  have  been  in  any  manner  supplied.  Sili- 
cious earth  is  also  quickly  and  strongly  heated  by  the  sun^which 
increases  the  rapidity  with  which  it  loses  moisture. 

2.  Aluminous  earth,  or  argil,  or  purest  clay,  as  it  may  also  be 
called  for  convenience,  is  composed,  for  a  large  part,  of  the  chemical 
earth  alumina,  from  which  this  and  all  other  less  pure  clays  derive 
their  peculiar  and  well-known  qualities.  Still,  this  purest  of  clays, 
naturally  existing  (or  "pipe  clay,"  as  termed  by  some  agricultural 
chemists),  contains  no  more  than  36  to  40  per  cent,  of  alumina, 
chemically  combined  with  52  to  60  per  cent,  of  silica,  and  3  or  4 
per  cent,  of  oxide  of  iron.*  Thus  even  the  purest  natural  clay,  or 
aluminous  earth,  does  not  approach  the  purity  of  the  chemical  earth 
alumina  within  some  60  to  64  per  cent.  And  all  ordinary  and  less 
pure  clays,  of  course,  have  much  more  of  silicious  sand,  the  additional 
quantity  being  in  the  state  of  mechanical  mixture.  Aluminous 
earth  and  all  clays,  in  proportion  to  their  purity,  when  dry,  absorb 
water  abundantly;  and  when  wet,  form  tough  and  ductile  paste, 
smooth  and  soapy  to  the  touch.  By  burning,  the  mass  becomes 
brick,  hard  like  stone,  and  is  no  longer  capable  of  being  softened 
by  water.  When  drying  from  a  previous  wet  and  softened  condi- 
tion, aluminous  earth  and  all  clays  shrink  greatly,  and,  separating 
by  numerous  cracks  and  fissures,  the  mass  is  broken  into  hard 
lumps. 

3.  Calcareous  earth,  carbonate  of  limcrf  or  calx,  is  the  next 
\ 

*  Prof.  J.  F.  TV.  Johnston's  "Lectures  on  the  Applications  of  Chemistry 
and  Geology  to  Agriculture,"  p.  230,  et  seq.  First  Am.  edition  of  Wiley 
and  Putnam,  New  Fork,  1844. 

f  Carbonate  of  lime  is  the  chemical  name  for  the  substance  formed  by 
the  combination  of  carbonic  acid  with  lime.  The  names  of  all  the  thousands 
of  different  substances  (neutral  salts)  which  are  formed  by  the  combination 
of  each  of  the  many  acids  with  each  of  the  various  earths,  alkalies,  ami 
metals,  are  formed  by  one  uniform  rule,  which  is  as  simple  and  easy  to  bo 


CALCAREOUS   EARTH.  21 

most  abundant  agricultural  earth.  It  is  a  combination  of  the  che- 
mical earth  lime  with  carbonic  acid,  in  the  constant  proportions 
(in  whole  numbers)  of  50  parts  lime  to  44  of  carbonic  acid.  It  is 
converted  to  pure  or  quick-lime  by  red  heat,  which  drives  ofl"  the 
carbonic  acid  ;  and  quick-lime,  by  exposure,  and  attracting  carbonic 
acid  from  the  atmosphere,  soon  reverts  to  its  original  condition  of 
carbonate,  or  calcareous  earth.  It  forms  marble,  limestone,  chalk, 
and  shells,  with  very  small  admixtures  of  other  materials.  Thus 
tln>  term  calcareous  earth  will  not  be  used  here  to  include  cither 
lime  in  its  pure  state,  or  any  of  the  numerous  combinations  which 
lime  forms  with  the  various  acids,  except  the  one  combination 
(carbonate  of  lime)  which  is  beyond  comparison  the  most  abundant 
throughout  the  world,  and  most  important  as  an  ingredient  of  soils. 
Pure  lime  attracts  all  acids  so  powerfully,  that  it  is  never  presented 
by  nature  except  in  combination  with  someone  of  them,  and  generally 
with  the  carbonic  acid.  When  this  compound  is  thrown  into  any 
stronger  acid,  as  the  muriatic,  nitric,  or  even  common  vinegar,  the 
lime,  being  more  powerfully  attracted,  unites  with  and  is  dissolved 
by  the  stronger  acid,  and  lets  go  the  carbonic,  which  escapes  with 
effervescence  in  the  form  of  air.  In  this  manner,  the  carbonate  of 
lime,  or  calcareous  earth,  may  not  only  be  easily  distinguished 
from  silicious  and  aluminous  earth,  but  also  from  all  other  com- 
binations of  lime. 

The  foregoing  definition  of  calcareous  earth,  which  confines  that 
term  to  the  carbonate  of  lime,  is  certainly  liable  to  objections,  but 
less  so  than  any  other  designation.  It  may  at  first  seem  improper 
and  even  absurd  to  consider  as  one  of  the  principal  earths  which 
compose  soils,  one  only  of  the  many  combinations  of  lime,  rather 
than  either  pure  lime  alone,  or  lime  in  all  its  combinations.  One 
or  the  other  of  these  significations  is  adopted  by  the  highest  autho- 
rities, when  the  calcareous  ingredients  of  soils  are  described ;  and 
in  either  sense,  the  use  of  this  term  is  more  conformable  with 
scientific  arrangement  than  mine.  Yet  much  inconvenience  is 
caused  by  thus  applying  the  term  calcareous  earth.     If  applied  to 

understood  and  remembered  as  it  is  useful.  To  avoid  repeated  explana- 
tions in  the  course  of  this  essay,  the  rule  will  now  be  stated  by  which  these 
compounds  arc  named.  The  termination  of  the  name  of  the  acid  is  changed 
to  the  syllable  ate,  and  then  prefixed  to  the  particular  earth,  alkali,  or 
metal  with  which  the  acid  is  united.  With  this  explanation,  any  reader 
can  at  once  understand  what  is  meant  by  each  of  some  thousands  of  terms, 
none  of  which  might  have  been  heard  of  before,  and  which  (without  this 
manner  of  being  named)  would  be  too  numerous  to  be  fixed  in  the  most 
retentive  memory.  Thus,  it  will  be  readily  understood  that  the  carbonate 
of  magnesia  is  a  compound  of  the  carbonic  acid  and  magnesia — the  sulphate 
of  lime  a  compound  of  sulphuric  acid  and  lime — the  sulphate  of  iron  a  com- 
pound of  sulphuric  acid  and  iron — and  in  like  manner  for  all  other  terms 
BO  formed. 


22  CALCAREOUS    EARTH. 

lime,  it  is  to  a  substance  which  is  never  found  existing  naturally, 
and  which  will  always  be  considered  by  most  |  she  artifi- 

cial product  of  tbe  process  of  calcination,  and  as  having  no  more 
part  in  tbe  composition  of  natural  soils  than  the  manures  obtained 
from  oil-cake  or  pounded  bones.  It  is  equally  improper  to  include 
under  the  same  general  term  all  tbe  combinations  of  lime  with  the 
fifty  or  sixty  various  acids.  Two  of  these  compounds,  tbe  sulphate 
and  the  phosphate  of  lime,  are  known  as  valuable  manures;  but 
they  exist  naturally  in  soils  in  such  minute  quantities,  as  not  to 

rve  to  be  considered  as  important  physical  ingredients.  3: 
other  salts  of  lime  are  known  to  chemists ;  but  their  several  quali- 
ties, as  affecting  soils,  arc  entirely  unknown — and  their  quantities 
are  too  small,  and  their  presence  too  rare,  to  require  consideration. 
If  all  the  numerous  different  combinations  of  lime,  having  perhaps 
as  many  various  and  unknown  properties,  had  not  been  excluded 
by  my  definition  of  calcareous  earth,  continual  exceptions  would 
have  been  necessary  to  avoid  stating  what  was  not  meant.  The 
carbonate  of  lime,  to  which  I  have  confined  that  term,  though  only 
one  of  many  existing  combinations,  yet  in  quantity  and  in  import- 
ance, as  an  ingredient  of  soils,  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  known  por- 
tion of  the  globe,  very  far  surpasses  all  the  others. 

But  even  if  calcareous  earth,  as  thus  defined  and  limited,  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  the  substance  which  it  is  proper  to  consider  as  one  of 
the  important  earths  of  agriculture,  still  there  are  objections  to  its 
name  which  I  would  gladly  avoid.  However  strictly  defined,  many 
leaders  will  attach  to  terms  such  meanings  as  they  had  previously 
understood :  and  the  word  calcareous  has  been  so  loosely  and  so 
differently  applied  in  common  language,  and  in  agriculture,  that 
much  confusion  may  attend  its  use.  Anything  "  partaking  of  the 
nature  of  lime"  is  '• calcareous,"  according  to  "Walker's  Dictionary ; 
Lord  Karnes  limits  the  term  to  pure  lime  ;*  Davyt  and  Sinclair! 
include  under  it  pure  lime  and  all  its  combinations;  and  Kirwan,|| 
Rozier,^f  and  Young,§  whose  example  I  have  followed,  confine  the 
name  calcareous  earth  to  the  carbonate  of  lime.  Nor  can  any  other 
term  be  substituted  without  producing  other  difficulties.  Carl 
ate  of  lime  would  be  precise;  but  there  are  insuperable  objections 
to  the  frequent  use  of  chemical  names  in  a  work  addressed  to  ordi- 
nary readers,  and  this  one  would  be  especially  awkward  and  incon- 
venient for  such  use.  Chalk,  or  shells,  or  mild  lime  (or  what  had 
been  quick-lime,  but  which,  from  exposure  to  the  air,  had  again 

* Trentlenian  Farmer,  page  2G-1  (2d  Eilin.  ed.) 

t  Agr.  Cheni.,  page  223  (Phil.  ed.  of  1821.) 

%  Code  of  Agriculture,  page  134  (Hartford  ed.  1818.) 

||  Kirwan  on  Manures,  chap.  1. 

^j  ii  Tcrres" — Cours  Complet  d'Agrioultore  Pratique. 

\  Young's  Essay  on  Manures,  chap.  Z. 


CALCAREOUS   EARTII.  23 

become  carbonated),  all  these  are  the  same  chemical  substance ;  but 
none  of  these  names  would  serve,  because  each  would  be  supposed  to 
refer  to  such  certain  fonpa  or  appearance  of  calcareous  earth  as  they 
usually  express.  If  I  could  hope  to  revive  an  obsolete  term,  and, 
with  some  modification,  establish  its  use  for  this  purpose,  I  would 
call  this  earth  calx — and  from  it  derive  calxing,  to  signify  the 
application  of  calcareous  earth,  in  any  form,  as  manure.  A  general 
ami  definite  term  for  this  operation  is  much  wanting.  Liming, 
marling,  applying  drawn  ashes,  or  the  rubbish  of  old  buildings, 
chalk,  or  limestone  gravel,  all  these  operations  are  in  part,  and 
some  of  them  entirely,  that  manuring  which  I  would  thus  call 
calxing.  But  because  their  names  are  different,  so  arc  their  effects 
generally  considered — not  only  in  those  respects  where  differences 
really  exist,  but  in  those  where  they  arc  precisely  alike. 

Calcareous  earth,  in  the  agricultural  sense  here  assumed  (calx, 
or  carbonate  of  lime),  has  almost  no  existence  as  an  ingredient  of 
soil  throughout  all  the  great  Atlantic  slope  of  the  United  States 
north  of  Florida.  Nor  has  it  any  existence,  separate  from  soil, 
unless  as  lime-stone  rock  and  travertine  in  the  mountain  region, 
and  subterranean  beds  of  fossil  shells  in  the  tide-water  lands.  In 
England,  France,  and  some  other  parts  of  Europe,  this  earth  occurs 
as  chalk,  in  beds  of  great  thickness  and  vast  extent  of  surface.  The 
whiteness  of  chalk  repels  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  its  open  texture 
permits  water  to  sink  through  almost  as  easily  as  through  sand. 
Thus  calcareous  earth  alone,  or  when  constituting  the  bulk  of  a 
soil,  is  remarkable  for  possessing  some  of  the  worst  qualities  of 
both  sand  and  clay. 

But  though  the  true  chalk,  which  is  so  widely  spread  in  Europe, 
does  not  exist  in  North  America,  there  are  very  extensive  regions 
of  this  continent  of  which  the  soils  are  composed  in  part,  and  their 
subsoils  mainly,  of  calcareous  earth,  and  which  may  be  considered 
as  chalk  soils  and  subsoils  in  an  agricultural,  though  not  a  geo- 
logical sense.  Such  are  most  of  the  "  prairie"  lands  of  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  and  Arkansas ;  and  (as  I  infer  from  analogy)  of  Texas, 
and  of  the  vast  prairie  region  west  of  the  Mississippi  llivcr.  The 
"  everglades"  of  Florida,  as  I  infer,  and  the  nearest  sea  islands 
also,  are  of  like  constitution.  The  subsoil  and  inferior  layers, 
known  in  many  cases  to  be  several  hundred  feet  thick,  are  like  an 
impure  chalk,  composed  principally  of  carbonate  of  lime  (of  which 
there  is  a  proportion  from  70  to  more  than  80  per  cent.),  inter- 
mixed intimately,  or  combined,  with  fine  clay,  which  constitutes  the 
small  remaining  part.  This  great  formation  of  impure  calcareous 
earth  maybe  considered  as  either  a  very  rich  marl,  or  a  poor  chalk; 
and  similar  to  true  chalk  in  every  relation  to  agriculture,  except  (in 
consequence  of  its  argillaceous  admixture)  in  being,  in  most  cases, 
as  much  impervious  to  water  as  true  chalk  is  the  reverse. 


24  MAGNESIAN   EARTH. 

4.  It  seems  doubtful  whether  magnesia,  in  any  form  or  condition, 
should  be  counted  among  the  earths  of  agriculture,  or  physical 
constituents  of  soils.  Though  very  generally  diffused  through  soils, 
it  is  usually  in  extremely  small  proportions.  In  this  country,  so 
far  as  my  personal  observation  or  other  information  has  extended, 
no  soil  is  known  to  contain  magnesia,  in  any  form,  as  a  physical 
or  considerable  constituent;  and  even  as  a  chemical  or  manuring 
agent,  the  quantities  present  in  soil  have  been  so  small,  and,  more- 
over, so  associated  with  larger  proportions  of  the  kindred  earth 
lime,  that  the  effects  of  the  magnesia  alone  could  not  be  appre- 
ciated. Nor  are  the  chemical  effects  of  magnesia  much  better 
known  in  Europe,  where  they  are  more  obvious  to  observation,  and 
have  been  more  or  less  remarked  upon  by  all  agricultural  chemists. 
They  have  been  considered  by  most  writers  as  injurious  to  the  fer- 
tility and  productiveness  of  soils.  But,  though  without  any 
evidence  of  facts,  I  would  infer  the  reverse  operation  of  magnesia 
in  small  proportions.  The  grounds  of  this  inference  are  presented 
in  the  general  similarity  of  chemical  character  of  magnesia  to  lime 
— and  also  the  very  general  diffusion  of  magnesia,  in  some  form  of 
combination  (though  not  often  as  carbonate),  in  soils,  and  espe- 
cially the  richest  soils.* 

In  other  parts  of  the  world,  however,  magnesia  is  much  more 
abundant.  It  is  present  in  large  and  (as  there  supposed)  injurious 
quantity  in  the  Gatinais  (between  the  rivers  Seine  and  Yonne),  in 
France,"}"  and  also  in  Cornwall,  in  England. J 

Magnesia  very  much  resembles  lime  in  most  of  their  known 
qualities,  and  especially  in  their  respective  chemical  affinities  to 
other  bodies.  The  resemblance  is  perfect  in  this  important  respect, 
that  the  pure  chemical  earth  magnesia  has  no  natural  existence, 
because  of  its  strong  attraction  for  acids.  If  made  pure  by  art,  it 
is  then  the  "  calcined  magnesia"  of  druggists.  In  that  artificial 
state,  and  in  which  only  the  pure  chemical  earth  ever  exists  at  all, 
if  exposed  to  the  atmosphere,  it  soon  attracts  carbonic  acid,  and  so 

*  In  a  specimen  of  the  celebrated  rich  alluvial  soil  of  Red  River, 
Louisiana,  I  found  from  1  to  2  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  magnesia ;  and 
something  less  in  the  equally  rich  deposit  of  the  Mississippi  River,  on  the 
Arkansas  shore.  The  rich  mud  of  the  Nile  contains  4  per  cent,  of  this 
earth.  (Regnault,  quoted  by  Boussingault),  Rural  Economy,  &c,  p.  388, 
(1st  Am.  ed.,  1845.) 

f  These  peculiar  soils  were  described  at  length  in  the  "Annates  d' 'Agri- 
culture Francaise,"  by  M.  Puvis,  whose  article  was  translated  for  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Farmer's  Register,  vol.  iv.,  p.  212,  accompanied  by  my  reasons 
for  doubting  the  conclusions  of  the  author  as  to  the  magnesia  being  the 
cause  of  sterility. 

X  The  Lizard  Downs.  (Davy.)  This  soil  is  formed  in  part  by  the  disen- 
tegration  of  the  underlying  serpentine,  a  magnesian  rock.  (J.  F.  Vt. 
Johnston.) 

Library 
'      C.   State    College 


HUMUS,    OR  VEGETABLE   EARTH.  25 

becomes  the  carbonate  of  magnesia,  which  is  the  ordinary  mild 
substance  used  as  medicine.  This  is  a  combination  of  48  parts  of 
magnesia  with  52  of  carbonic  acid.  It  is  to  this  compound  only, 
the  carbonate  of  magnesia,  I  affix  the  term  of  magnesicm  earth, 
and  not  to  any  other  form  of  combination  with  other  earths  or  with 
acids,  nor  to  the  pure  chemical  earth  magnesia,  which  has  no  exist- 
ence in  nature,  and,  of  course,  can  have  no  natural  influence  on 
soils  or  on  agriculture. 

6.  Humus  is  the  partially  decomposed  remains  of  dead  vegetable 
growth,  reduced  by  time  to  nearly  an  earthy  texture,  pulverulent 
when  dry,  and  soft  and  slimy,  and  almost  semi-fluid  when  full  of 
water.  This  vegetable  earth,  as  peat,  and  in  its  purest  state,  is 
very  abundant  in  Great  Britain  and  other  cool  and  moist  countries. 
But  in  Eastern  Virginia,  it  has  scarcely  any  existence,  separate  or 
alone,  except  in  the  Great  Dismal  Swamp,  and  in  marshes  covered 
by  the  tides.  In  these  places,  and  also  in  the  still  larger  swamps 
of  North  Carolina,  the  continual  wetness  and  dense  shade  serve  to 
prevent  the  complete  decomposition  of  vegetable  matter,  as  is  done 
in  Europe  by  the  prevalence  of  cloudy  and  damp  air,  and  low 
average  temperature ;  and  under  such  conditions  only,  in  our  hotter 
and  dryer  climates,  does  humus  occur  alone,  or  even  as  forming 
the  principal  material  of  any  soil.  The  peat  soil  of  Europe  is  com- 
posed'of  pure  vegetable  matter,  for  60  per  cent,  or  more  of  its  dry 
weight.  (Johnston.)  The  peat  used  for  fuel  is  probably  still  more 
of  vegetable  constitution.  Of  four  specimens  of  soil  of  the  Dismal 
Swamp,  selected  and  examined  by  myself,  the  vegetable  parts  were, 
respectively,  75,  90,  and,  in  the  other  two,  96  per  cent,  of  the 
bulk  of  the  soil.  Different  specimens  of  soils,  from  both  salt  and 
fresh-water  tide  marshes,  bordering  on  Powhatan  (or  James) 
River,  lost  full  50  per  cent,  of  their  dry  weight  by  being  burnt 
thoroughly ;  showing  that  half  their  weight,  and  probably  five-sixths 
of  their  bulk,  is  pure  vegetable  matter.  These  soils  are,  per- 
haps, as  near  to  pure  humus  as  any  in  our  climate. 

As  a  small,  or  chemical  ingredient  of  soil,  intermixed  or  com- 
bined with  other  earths  and  far  more  abundant  materials,  humus 
is  present  universally,  serving  as  aliment  to  be  drawn  up  by  the 
roots  of  growing  plants,  and  without  which  no  healthy  or  luxuriant 
growth  could  be  produced.  Humus  gives  colour  and  value  to  the 
black  rich  mould  of  old  garden  ground,  and  to  the  richest  forest  or 
alluvial  soils,  before  they  are  reduced  in  fertility  by  tillage. 

Soils  and  Sub-soils  in  General. 

All  the  agricultural  earths,  including  humus  as  one,  when  sepa- 
rated pure,  or  as  nearly  pure  as  ever  presented  by  nature,  are 
aeariy  or  entirely  barren.     This  might  be  inferred  from  the  mere 
3 


26  SOILS   AND   THEIR   COMPOSITION. 

description  of  their  respective  qualities.  Further — the  too  large 
proportion  of  any  one  earth,  in  the  mixture  of  several,  is  injurious 
to  fertility  in  proportion  to  such  excess.  But  the  quantity  which 
would  thus  be  hurtful  by  excess  would  be  very  different  in  the  dif- 
ferent earths,  and  also  as  to  each  one,  as  modified  by  attendant 
circumstances.  Thus,  as  a  supposition,  or,  at  best,  a  mere  ap- 
proximation to  truth,  we  may  suppose  the  following  named  pro- 
portions to  be  as  large  as  can  be  present,  respectively,  in  different 
soils,  and  under  ordinary  circumstances,  without  being  injurious 
to  production : — 

Silicious  earth  (as  pure  sand),  in  a  particular  soil, 
will  be  injurious  by  its  excess,  if  more  in  propor- 
tion to  the  soil  than         -         m  -  -  -     85  per  cent. 

Or  aluminous  earth  (argil,  or  purest  clay),  in  ano- 
ther soil,  -  -  -  -  >  -     25       " 

Or  calcareous  earth  (carbonate  of  lime,  or  calx),  in 

another,  -  -  -  -  -5?" 

Or   magnesian   earth    (carbonate   of  magnesia),  in 

another, 2?     " 

Or  humus  (nearly  pure  vegetable  matter),  in  another,     12  ?     " 

In  such  large  proportion  as  indicated  by  the  above  quantities, 
the  greater  part  of  each  earth  could  act  only  jjhysicaUy  or  mcclmn- 
ically.  If  considered  merely  as  chemical  or  manuring  constituents, 
and  embraced  in  one  soil,  perhaps  one  per  cent,  of  calx,  a  mere 
trace  of  magnesian  earth,  and  five  per  cent,  of  humus,  would  be 
enough  ;  while  nearly  all  the  remainder  of  the  hundred  parts  would 
be  of  silicious  earth  mainly,  and  aluminous  earth,  serving  merely  as 
physical  constituents,  for  nearly  their  whole  quantities. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  most  suitable  proportions,  and  however 
much  the  action  and  power  of  each  one  may  be  in  some  cases 
modified  by  other  ingredients,  or  by  attendant  circumstances,  still 
the  admixture,  in  due  proportions,  of  the  different  earths  will  serve 
to  correct  the  defects  of  all,  and  thus  to  foim  soils  of  every  charac- 
ter and  variety.  And  various  as  are  the  soils  naturally  formed  by 
mixtures  of  some  or  all  of  the  different  earths,  and  greatly  defective 
as  most  of  them  are,  there  are  but  few  which  do  not  more  or  less 
fulfil  their  purpose  of  serving  to  sustain  the  growth  of  useful  plants ; 
in  which  they  may  extend  their  roots  freely,  yet  be  firmly  sustained 
in  their  erect  position ;  and  obtain  the  necessary  supplies  of  air, 
moisture,  warmth,  and  food,  without  being  too  much  oppressed  by 
the  excess  of  either.  Such  are  the  soils,  though  of  various  pro- 
portions and  values,  on  all  the  surface  of  the  globe  wherever  fit 
for  culture.  And  though  the  qualities  and  values  of  soils  are  as 
various  as  the  proportions  of  their  ingredients  are  innumerable, 
yet  they  are  mostly  so  constituted  that  no  one  earthy  ingredient  is 


SOILS   AND   SUB-SOILS.  27 

eo  abundant  but  that  the  texture*  of  the  soil  is  mechanically  suited 
to  some  one  valuable  crop;  as  some  plants  require  a  degree  of 
closeness,  and  others  of  openness  in  the  soil,  which  would  cause 
other  plants  to  decline  or  perish. 

The  depth  of  soil  seldom  extends  more  than  a  few  inches  below 
the  surface,  as  on  the  surface  only  are  received  those  natural  sup- 
plies of  vegetable  and  animal  matters,  which  are  necessary  to  con- 
stitute soil.  Valleys  subject  to  inundation  have  washings  of  soils 
brought  from  higher  lands  and  deposited  by  the  water,  and  there- 
fore are  of  much  greater  depth. 

Below  the  soil  is  the  subsoil,  of  uncertain  depth,  and  which  need 
not  be  considered  as  extending  deeper  than  its  texture  or  condition 
may  affect  the  production  of  the  soil  above,  whether  beneficially  or 
injuriously.  It  is,  however,  most  common  that  the  sub-soil  is  ap- 
parently nearly  of  the  same  constitution  with  the  subjacent  mass  for 
several  or  many  feet  deeper.  The  sub-soil  is  usually  a  mixture  of 
two  or  more  earths,  and  the  same  as  may  predominate  in  the  soil 
above.  But  the  su^-soil  is  much  more  deficient  in  calcareous  earth 
(except  under  chalky  soils),  and  lime  in  every  state,  and  also  in 
humus ;  and,  indeed,  nearly  all  sub-soils  in  lower  Virginia  are 
totally  deficient  in  all  those  ingredients  essential  to  vegetable  pro- 
duction. Even  where  such  absolute  deficiency  may  not  exist,  the 
usual  great  excess  of  either  sand  or  clay  in  sub-soils  would  alone 
serve  to  render  them  nearly  barren ;  and,  consequently,  their  mix- 
ture with  the  better  soil  lying  above  would  be  injurious  rather  than 
beneficial  to  its  improvement. 

The  qualities  and  value  of  soils  depend  on  the  proportions  of 
their  ingredients.  We  can  easily  comprehend  in  what  manner 
silicious  and  aluminous  earths,  by  their  mixture,  serve  to  cure  the 
defects  of  each  other;  the  open,  loose,  thirsty,  and  hot  nature  of 
sand  being  corrected  by,  and  correcting  in  turn,  the  close,  adhesive, 
and  water-holding  qualities  of  aluminous  earth.  This  curative 
operation  is  merely  mechanical ;  and  in  that  manner  it  seems  likely 
that  calcareous  earth,  when  injarge  proportions,  and  serving  as  a 
mechanical  constituent,  also  acts,  and  aids  the  corrective  powers  of 
both  the  other  earths.  This,  however,  is  only  supposition,  as  I 
have  met  with  scarcely  any  such  natural  soil. 

But  besides  the  mechanical  effects  of  calcareous  earth  (which 
are  weaker  than  those  of  the  other  two),  that  earth  has  chemical 
powers  far  more  effectual  in  altering  the  texture  of  soils,  and  for 
which  a  comparatively  small  quantity  is  amply  sufficient.  The 
chemical  action  of  calcareous  earth,  as  an  ingredient  of  soils,  will 
be  fully  treated  of  hereafter ;  it  is  only  mentioned  in  this  place  to 

*  The  texture  of  a  soil  means  the  disposition  of  its  parts,  -which  produces 
such  sensible  qualities  as  being  close,  adhesive,  open,  friable,  &c. 


28         PHYSICAL   AND   CHEMICAL   CONSTITUENTS   OF   SOILS. 

avoid  the  apparent  contradiction  which  might  be  inferred,  if,  in  a 
general  description  of  calcareous  earth,  I  had  omitted  all  allusion 
to  qualities  that  will  afterwards -be  brought  forward  as  all-important. 

Physical  (or  JleelianicaT)  and   Chemical  Constituents  of  Soils. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  general  subject,  we  should  always  bear 
in  mind  the  different  actions  of  the  earths  as  title  physical,  or  me- 
chanical, and  the  chemical  ingredients  of  soils.  These  different 
actions  have  already  been  incidentally  referred  to ;  but  they  require 
more  particular  notice. 

Any  of  the  earths  which  may  serve  as  large  materials  in  the 
composition  of  a  soil,  must  act,  for  much  their  greater  proportion, 
merely  mechanically  in  the  relation  of  the  soil  to  the  growth  of 
plauts.  Thus,  the  various  mixtures  of  silicious  and  aluminous 
earths  existing  in  all  ordinary  soils — and  these  more  rarely  with 
large  proportions  of  either  calcareous  or  magnesian  earth,  or  humus 
— serve,  for  much  the  larger  proportions  of  ea^-h  and  all,  to  furnish 
merely  that  mechanical  position  and  support  for  growing  plants 
which  is  necessary  for  them  to  draw  freely  the  available  supplies 
of  water,  air,  and  food.  The  conditions  necessary  for  this  purpose 
are,  that  the  soil  shall  have  enough  sand  to  be  sufficiently  permeable 
by  moisture,  and  for  the  extension  of  the  rootlets;  that  there  shall 
be  enough  clay  to  give  firm  support  to  the  plant  in  its  upright 
position,  and  sufficiently  to  close  the  too  great  openness  of  the  sand. 
These  necessary  physical  conditions  of  the  soil,  in  relation  to  its 
texture  and  powers  of  receiving,  retaining,  and  transmitting  moist- 
ure, are  further  improved,  and  opposite  evils  either  modified  or 
prevented,  by  additional  admixtures  of  calcareous  (and  perhaps 
magnesian)  earth,  and  humus.  But  so  far  the  action  of  each  and 
all  these  materials,  in  large  quantities,  (and  for  much  the  larger 
proportion  being  always  understood),  act  only  by  their  physical 
qualities,  and  exert  such  powers  in  proportion  to  quantities.  Any 
one  of  these  materials,  for  much  it§  greater  part,  might  be 
tuted  by  some  other,  if  offering  like  physical  qualities,  though 
totally  different  in  chemical  character  and  constitution.  Thus, 
when  chalk  greatly  predominates  in  soil  disposed  to  dampness, 
from  position  or  climate,  its  physical  qualities  serve  to  increase  the 
evil,  as  would  clay ;  and  the  soil  is  both  colder  and  wetter  than  if 
there  were  no  physical  action  of  the  calcareous  earth.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  a  soil  disposed  to  suffer  by  dryness,  the  like  chalky 
constitution  would  increase  that  evil,  as  would  sand,  by  its  open 
texture  permitting  the  too  rapid  escape  of  moisture.  Humus,  in 
large  proportion,  acting  mechanically  like  clay,  serves  to  close  the 
too  open  pores  of  sandy  soils;  and,  by  its  remarkable  absorbent 
power,  to  make  them  more  retentive  of  moisture  wherever  excess 


TIIYSICAL   AND   CIIEMICAL   CONSTITUENTS   OF   SOILS.         29 

of  moisture  exists.  Yet  in  a  soil  largely  composed  of  clay,  and  as 
much  deficient  in  sand,  a  very  large  natural  supply  of  humus  will 
prevent  the  tenacity  and  intractability  which  the  clay  otherwise 
would  have  induced ;  and  cause  the  soil,  when  dry,  to  be  friable, 
loose,  and  permeable.  In  wet  seasons,  however,  the  same  soil  will 
be  again  too  close  and  adhesive. 

Further — if  we  can  conceive  that  other  materials  could  be  sub- 
stituted, having  entirely  different  chemical  characters,  they  might 
serve  as  well  for  physical  constituents  of  soils,  as  the  earths  of 
which  they  took  the  place.  Thus  the  purest  clay,  or  even  pure 
alumina,  if  calcined  to  the  state  of  brick,  and  then  reduced  to  fine 
grains,  would  serve  the  same  physical  purposes  in  soil  as  silicious 
sand.  And  if  an  artificial  soil  were  thus  composed,  it  might  have 
all  the  physical  qualities  of  the  most  sandy  soil,  while  its  chemical 
composition  would  be  more  aluminous  than  ever  exists  in  nature. 

The  physical  or  mechanical  action  of  earths  has  been  kept  gene- 
rally in  view  through  the  foregoing  pages,  inasmuch  as  the  earths 
have  been  considered  as  forming  large  ingredients  of  soils.  But 
besides  this  more  obvious  action  of  the  agricultural  earths,  all  of 
them,  as  well  as  many  other  different  bodies,  act  also  by  chemical 
power.  For  the  fullest  exercise  of  this  power  by  each,  compara- 
tively very  small  proportions  of  each  ingredient  are  required.  In 
a  soil  composed  of  any  proportion  whatever  of  silicious,  aluminous, 
calcareous,  magncsian,  and  vegetable  earths,  perhaps  the  quantity 
of  each  acting  chemically,  might  not  exceed  the  hundredth,  if  the 
thousandth,  part  of  the  whole  mass  of  soil — all  the  remainders  of 
each  earth,  whether  great  or  small,  having,  for  the  time,  no  other 
than  mechanical  action. 

But  the  magnitude  and  importance,  and  value  to  the  farmer,  of 
the  mechanical  and  chemical  ingredients  of  soils  are  not  at  all  in 
proportion  to  the  quantities  required  to  exert  the  different  powers. 
The  chemical  action  is  much  the  more  valuable  in  effect  and  benefit 
produced ;  and  also  because  the  producing  agents,  from  the  small 
quantities  required,  are  more  or  less  under  the  control  of  man ; 
while  the  great  quantity  alone  of  any  material  required  for  physical 
effect,  would  generally  place  it  entirely  beyond  control. 

All  chemical  ingredients  of  soils,  whether  of  the  agricultural 
earths  which  also  make  the  universal  mechanical  materials,  or  of 
any  other  bodies  so  far  as  they  operate  in  soils  by  chemical  action, 
are  manures,  which  serve  directly  or  indirectly,  immediately  or 
remotely,  to  give  food  to  and  promote  the  growth  and  production 
of  plants. 

Thus,  according  to  my  views,  and  in  the  sense  in  which  I  use 
the  terms,  the  physical  or  mechanical  constituents  of  soils,  and  the 
agricultural  earths,  when  serving  as  earths,  are  the  same;  and 
also,  that  so  much  of  these  earths  as  act  chemically,  or  as  chemical 


30        PIIYSICAL   AND   CHEMICAL   CONSTITUENTS   OF   SOILS. 

constituents  of  soils,  are  manures.  The  same  substance  (whether 
silicious  sand,  clay,  chalk,  or  humus)  which,  when  in  quantity,  and 
for  the  much  larger  proportion  of  such  quantity,  is  a  mere  earth, 
or  mere  physical  material,  also,  for  a  very  small  proportion,  in  the 
same  or  other  soil,  acts  chemically  and  as  a  manure.  And  these 
different  operations  of  the  same  substance  may  even  oppose  each 
other ;  and  then  it  will  depend  on  other  circumstances  whether  the 
manuring  action  of  a  minute  proportion  of  the  substance  will  do 
more  good  than  is  produced  of  injury  by  the  excess  of  the  same 
substance  as  an  agricultural  earth  and  physical  material  of  the 
soil. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  clearly  showing  the  distinction  of  me- 
chanical and  chemical  action  in  soils  of  even  the  same  substances, 
it  will  serve  to  remove  much  of  the  obscurity  and  mystery  which 
have  attended  the  general  subject.  When  the  application  of  cal- 
careous matter  as  manure  is  new,  or  but  beginning  in  any  country 
(as  in  Virginia  thirty  years  ago),  it  has  been  deemed  (by  many  par- 
tially informed  persons)  a  sufficient  objection  to  the  promised 
benefit  of  a  small  application,  that  much  larger  natural  proportions 
elsewhere  did  not  always  make  rich  lands.  It  seemed  incredible 
that  a  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  less  than  1  per  cent,  of  the 
soil  could  much  promote  its  fertilization  and  productiveness,  when 
other  soils  had  5,  10,  or  50  per  cent,  of  that  material,  and  were 
not  always  rich,  and  in  some  cases  were  extremely  barren.  But, 
in  such  cases,  1  per  cent,  (or  less),  perhaps,  was  as  large  a  pro- 
portion of  carbonate  of  lime  as  could  act  chemically  and  as  a  ma- 
nure. All  beyond  that  proportion  would  be  mere  physical  material  j 
and  if  in  excess  even  for  its  mechanical  operation,  would  be  injuri- 
ous in  proportion  to  its  excess.  Thus  (as  will  be  shown  hereafter) 
a  very  small  proportion  of  this  earth  serves  to  lessen  the  evil  effects 
to  soils  of  both  too  much  wetness  and  too  much  dryness,  and  the 
opposite  evils  of  too  much  heat  and  also  of  low  temperature.  But 
in  a  chalky  soil,  where  this  ingredient  is  in  great  quantity,  the 
mechanical  action  predominates  and  overpowers  the  chemical ;  and 
such  constitution  of  soil  serves  to  aggravate  all  the  opposite  evils 
of  dryness  and  moisture,  heat  and  cold,  which  the  chemical  action, 
if  alone,  would  greatly  mitigate. 

The  perplexity  and  erroneous  deductions  which  have  prevailed 
have  been  much  increased  by  some  writers  of  scientific  celebrity. 
From  analyzing  specimens  of  remarkably  fertile  soils,  and  finding 
in  most  cases  very  large  proportions  of  carbonate  of  lime,  they  have 
absurdly  inferred  that  these  were  the  most  proper  proportions. 
Hence,  different  chemists  have  indicated  as  the  most  suitable  for 
the  highest  fertility  of  soil,  proportions  of  this  earth  varying  from 
2  to  30  per  cent,  of  the  whole  mass  of  soil.  They  who  advocated 
the  larger  quantities  were  ignorant  that  perhaps  nine-tenths  of  the 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   SOILS.  31 

lime  was  cither  inert  earth,  or  positively  hurtful  by  its  peculiar 
mechauical  actiou ;  and  that  such  soils,  when  highly  fertile  (as  the 
mud  of  the  Nile,  with  its  25  per  cent.),  were  so  by  aid  of  their 
other  useful  ingredients,  which  enabled  the  soil  to  withstand  the 
evil  operation  of  the  greater  portion  of  its  lime. 

It.  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  neither  of  the  agricultural 
earths  applied  to  soil  can  serve  as  a  manure  (i.  e.,  have  any  chemi- 
cal action),  when  there  is  already  enough  of  the  same  earth  present 
to  have  any  mechanical  action.  And  however  useful  each  of  the 
earths  may  be  if  applied  where  its  chemical  action  is  deficient,  it 
would  be  as  absurd  in  reasoning  as  useless  in  practice,  to  apply 
sand  to  sandy,  and  clay  to  clayey  soils,  or  lime  to  the  chalky,  or 
vegetable  matters  to  peaty  soils. 

The  foregoing  definitions  and  explanations  offer  some  materials, 
or  ground-work,  for  the  classification  of  soils.  But,  greatly  as  that 
is  needed,  it  is  not  designed  here  to  attempt  the  construction  of  a 
proper  general  classification  or  nomenclature — which  would  serve  to 
add  another  failure  to  those  of  all  preceding  writers  on  soils.  But 
as  it  is  impossible  to  discuss  the  subjects  to  be  presented  for  con- 
sideration in  this  essay  without  the  use  and  aid  of  some  definite 
terms,  I  will  adopt,  for  present  and  provisional  use,  the  following 
general  terms  for  soils,  deduced  from  their  respective  predominant 
or  most  operative  physical  ingredients,  and  which  will  have  rela- 
tion only  to  mechanical  constitution,  and  such  qualities  and  cha- 
racters of  soils  as  are  generally  indicated  by  their  texture,  and  are 
evident  to  the  senses. 

In  reference,  then,  to  physical  predominating  ingredients  only, 
each  of  the  agricultural  earths  above  described,  by  its  quantity, 
serves  to  make  a  different  general  character  of  soil — which,  accord- 
ing to  the  predominant  physical  constituent  earth,  belongs  to  some 
one  of  the  following  five  classes  or  general  divisions  of  soils  : — 

1.  A  silicious  or  sandy  soil  contains  so  large  a  proportion  of 
silicious  earth,  in  the  state  of  sand,  as  by  its  excess  to  give  more 
or  less  of  the  peculiar  texture  and  mechanical  qualities  of  that  earth 
to  the  soil.  Thus,  a  silicious  or  sandy  soil  will  show  most  strongly 
such  qualities  as  openness,  looseness,  want  of  adhesiveness  when 
wet,  permeability,  rapidity  in  drying,  &c,  such  as  are  still  more 
strongly  shown  by  pure  silicious  sand. 

2.  An  aluminous,  argillaceous,  or  clayey  soil  contains  such  ex- 
cess of  aluminous  earth,  or  purest  clay,  as  will  give  to  the  soil  the 
qualities  of  adhesiveness  and  plasticity  when  wet,  more  or  less  of 
obstruction  to  the  passage  or  sinking  of  rain-water,  great  tendency 
to  shrink  in  drying,  and  to  hardness  when  dry,  &e. 

3.  A  chalky,  or  super-calcareous  soil,  whether  made  so  by  true 
chalk,  or  by  any  other  form  of  calx  or  carbonate  of  lime,  from  any 
other  source,  contains  an  excess  of  that  agricultural  earth  large 


32  CLASSIFICATION   OF   SOILS. 

enough  to  be  injurious,  in  any  of  the  modes  indicated  to  the  phy- 
sical properties  above  stated  of  that  earth.  No  such  soil  exi.-rs  in 
all  Virginia,  nor  in  any  other  of  the  Atlantic  States  north  of 
Florida. 

As  these  general  divisions  of  soils  are  determined  according  to 
their  predominating  or  most  operative  physical  ingredient  only, 
the  term  calcareous  soil  (of  which  such  frequent  use  will  be  made 
in  this  essay)  has  been  designedly  omitted  above.  But  to  prevent 
misapprehension,  it  will  be  merely  mentioned,  in  anticipation,  that 
calcareous  soil  will  be  hereafter  used  as  a  still  more  comprehensive 
term,  embracing  not  only  all  the  super-calcareous  soils,  but  all 
others  that  contain  even  the  smallest  appreciable  proportion  of  car- 
bonate of  lime.  Generally,  however,  the  term  calcareous  will  bo 
that  applied  to  soils  in  reference  to  their  contents  of  small  and 
harmless  proportions  of  carbonate  of  lime  (acting  as  a  chemical 
constituent  only  or  mainly) ;  while  those  having  larger  and  hurtful 
proportions  will  always  be  contra-distinguished  as  the  chalky  or 
super-calcareous.* 

4.  A  magnesian  soil  would  be  one  in  which  magnesian  earth 
is  in  sufficient  excess  to  make  its  physical  qualities  predominate 
over  the  other  earths  serving  as  ingredients.  Such  soils  are  of 
doubtful  existence ;  certainly  of  extremely  rare  occurrence. 

5.  A  hum ic,  pea \ty,  or  vegetable  soil,  has  so  large  a  proportion 
of  humus  that  it  is  either  injurious  to  production,  or  otherwise 
serves  to  counteract  and  overbalance  the  opposite  injurious  qualities 
of  some  other  ingredient.  Thus,  a  soil  which  by  its  aluminous 
constitution  alone  would  have  been  very  clayey,  or  another  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  chalky,  might  have  either  of  such  de- 
fects of  texture,  &c.,  counteracted,  and  partially  remedied,  by  a 
greater  predominance  of  humus ;  and  thereby  be  made  a  humic 
instead  of  either  a  clayey  or  chalky  soil. 

For  an  earth  to  be  predominant  and  excessive  in  a  soil,  as  un- 
derstood above,  and  so  to  convey  its  qualities  and  its  name,  it  is 
not  necessary  that  it  shall  be  the  ingredient  greatest  in  quantity — 

*  The  previous  difficulties  of  definition  and  of  understanding  on  this 
head,  would  be  greatly  increased  by  admitting  the  strange  nomenclature  of 
the  latest  writer,  Professor  J.  F.  W.  Johnston,  whose  authority  stands  so 
high,  and  is  so  generally  worthy  of  respect.  He  confines  the  term  "  cal- 
careous soil"  (by  express  definition)  to  such  as  contain  more  than  20  per 
cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime !  Those  containing  from  5  to  10  per  cent,  he 
terms  "  marly  soils  ;"  and  all  containing  less  than  5  per  cent,  are  left 
without  any  distinguishing  term  or  character  in  regard  to  their  calcareous 
constitution.  (Johnston's  Lectures,  p.  233.)  According  to  these  designa- 
tions, there  would  not  be  an  acre  of  natural  "calcareous  soil,"  or  even 
of  "marly  soil,"  in  all  Virginia;  nor  will  there  be,  after  all  that  shall  be 
judiciously  clone  by  the  industry  of  man  in  supplying  calcareous  manure 
to  the  soils  deficient  in  that  ingredient. 


DEFINITIONS   OF   BOILS.  33 

which  only  is  always  the  case  as  to  silicious  earth.  Of  this,  in  its 
pure  and  uncombincd  state,  as  sand  (capable  of  being  separated  by 
washing  in  water),  it  requires  a  very  large  proportion,  say  not  less 
than  80  per  cent,  of  the  whole  mass,  to  constitute  a  sandy  soil. 
But,  in  other  soils,  though  consisting  for  much  more  than  half  their 
mass  of  uncombined  silicious  sand,  a  much  smaller  proportion  of 
cither  one  of  the  other  earths  would  serve  to  make  the  latter  the 
predominant  ingredient,  and  properly  to  give  character  and  name 
to  the  soil.  Thus,  from  35  to  40  per  cent,  of  "  purest  clay"  (which 
itself  contains  about  GO  per  cent,  of  silica),  or  30  per  cent,  of  calx, 
or  25  per  cent,  of  humus,  or  perhaps  less  of  each,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  would  serve  to  constitute,  respectively,  either  a  clayey, 
a  chalky,  or  a  humic  soil ;  though,  in  each  case,  the  other  and 
much  larger  ingredients  would  be  other  earthy  materials  than  the 
one  so  predominating. 

But  even  in  soils  having  some  one  physical  ingredient  sufficiently 
predominant  and  distinguished  to  indicate  their  general  character  and 
name,  there  also  are  usually  apparent  the  manifest  though  weaker 
indications  of  the  presence  of  some  other  influential  ingredient. 
For  such  compound  qualities,  terms  may  be  compounded  of  the 
foregoing,  which  will  sufficiently  express  the  characters  referred  to. 
For  this  purpose,  there  will  be  found  a  convenience  in  using  also 
the  term  loam  for  all  soils  approaching  to  a  medium  texture  and 
composition  of  the  two  usually  most  abundant  ingredients,  silicious 
sand  and  clay — or  soils  in  which  the  opposite  qualities  of  silicious 
and  aluminous  earths  serve  in  great  measure  to  correct  each  other, 
leaving  no  great  or  .in jurious  excess  of  either.  Such  a  medium 
texture,  or  soil  approaching  nearly  to  such,  would  be  simply  a  loam. 
If  still  more  sandy,  it  might  be  termed  a  sandy  loam  ;  or  a  clayey  or 
chalky,  ov  peaty  loam,  under  other  conditions  of  physical  constitu- 
tion. Besides  all  these  and  other  such  compounded  terms,  others 
may  be  used  for  other  physical  and  accidental  qualities  of  soils,  as 
stony,  gravelly,  ferruginous,  &c,  any  of  which  may  apply  to  any 
soil  of  different  predominant  character,  and  different  general  de- 
signation.* 

*  The  convenient  and  very  common  term  loam  is  defined  above  (it  is  pre- 
sumed) with  enough  precision  and  correctness  ;  and  also  in  accordance  with 
common  understanding.  Yet  this  term  offers  (next,  perhaps,  to  "marl") 
one  of  the  strongest  examples  of  the  conflict  of  definitions  and  confusion 
which  prevail  among  agricultural  writers.  This  term  is  so  common  that  it 
is  used  by  every  one  who  writes  of  soils — and  which,  in  some  one  or  other 
sense,  each  writer  probably  considered  as  forming  a  very  large,  if  not  the 
greatest  proportion  of  the  cultivated  soils  of  his  country,  and  of  the  world. 
.Some  of  various  and  contradictory  and  erroneous  definitions  will  be  here 
quoted : — 

Kirwan  says — "  Loam  denotes  any  soil  moderately  cohesive,  and  more  so 


8)1  fli  xudl  1 

I 

CHAPTER  II.* 

ON   THE    SOILS   AND   STATE   OP  AGRICULTURE   OP   THE  TIDE- 
WATER  DISTRICT   OP  VIRGINIA. 

"  During  several  days  of  our  journey,  no  spot  was  seen  that 

was  not  covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  large  and  beautiful 
forest  trees,  except  where  they  had  been  destroyed  by  the  natives 
for  the  purpose  of  cultivation.  The  least  fertile  of  their  fields, 
when  left  untilled  and  without  seeding,  are  soon  covered  with  grass 
several  feet  in  height ;  and  unless  prevented  by  subsequent  culti- 
vation, a  second  growth  of  trees  rapidly  springs  up,  which,  without 
care  or  attention,  attain  their  giant  size  in  half  the  time  that  would 
be  expected  on  the  best  lands  in  England." 

than  loose  chalk.  By  the  author  of  the  'Body  of  Agriculture,'  it  is  said 
to  be  a  clay  mixed  with  sand."  (Essay  on  Manures,  ch.  1.) 

"  Loam,  or  that  species  of  artificial  soil  into  which  the  others  are  gene- 
rally brought  by  the  course  of  long  cultivation." — "Where  a  soil  is  mode- 
rately cohesive,  less  tenacious  than  clay,  and  more  so  than  sand,  it  is  known 
by  the  name  of  loam.  From  its  frequency,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that 
in  some  cases  it  might  be  called  an  'original  soil.'"  [Sinclair's  Code  of 
Agriculture — chap.  1.] 

"  The  word  loam  should  be  limited  to  soils  containing  at  least  one-third 
of  impalpable  earthy  matter,  copiously  effervescing  with  acids."  [Davy's 
Agricultural  Chemistry — Lecture  4.]  According  to  this  definition  by  the 
most  scientific  writer  and  highest  authority  in  chemical  agriculture,  if  we 
except  the  small  portion  of  shelly  land,  there  is  certainly  not  an  acre  of 
natural  loam  between  the  sea-coast  of  Virginia  and  the  Blue  Ridge  Moun- 
tains— and  Tery  few  even  in  the  limestone  region. 

"By  loam  is  meant  any  of  the  earths  combined  with  decayed  animal  or 
vegetable  matter."     [Appendix  to  Agr.  Chem.  by  George  Sinclair.] 

"Loam — fat  unctuous  earth — marl."  [Johnson's  Dictionary,  8vo.  ed., 
and  also  Walker's."] 

"Loam  may  "ue  considered  a  clay  of  loose  or  friable  consistency,  mixed 
with  mica  or  isinglass,  and  iron  ochre."  [Editor  of  American  Farmer, 
(old  series)  vol.  Hi.,  page  320.] 

[*  In  this  and  the  next  following  seven  chapters  (II.  to  IX.  inclusive), 
in  which  are  set  forth  my  peculiar  views  of  the  qualities  of  our  soils,  the 
general  absence  and  want  of  calcareous  earth,  the  mode  of  action  of  cal- 
careous manures,  and,  in  general,  the  theory  of  fertilization,  the  entire 
matter  of  the  edition  of  1832  has  been  scrupulously  retained,  without  altcra- 
ti<  n,  other  than  in  a  few  transpositions  of  matter  and  merely  verbal  cor- 
rections, which  have  not  at  all  altered  the  purport.  Whatever  else  has 
been  added,  in  later  editions  and  the  present,  whether  to  the  text  or  aa 
notes,  will  be  designated  by  being  enclosed  in  brackets,  and  will  also,  in 
most  cases,  be  marked  with  the  date  of  the  edition,  or  the  writing,  in  which 
such  additional  passages  first  appeared.— 1852.] 

(34) 


TIDE-WATER   DISTRICT   OF   VIRGINIA.  35 

If  the  foregoing  description  was  met  with  in  a  '  Journey  through 
Cabul,'  or  some  equally  unknown  region,  no  European  reader  would 
doubt  that  such  lands  were  fertile  in  the  highest  degree — and  many 
even  of  ourselves  would  receive  the  same  impression.  Yet  it  is  no 
exaggerated  account  of  the  poorest  natural  soils  in  our  own  Gene- 
rally poor  country,  which  are  as  remarkable  for  their  producing 
luxuriant  growths  of  pines,  and  broom-grass,  as  for  their  unpro- 
ductiveness in  every  cultivated  or  valuable  crop.  We  are  so  ac- 
customed to  these  facts,  that  we  scarcely  think  of  their  strangeness  • 

or  of  the  impropriety  of  calling  any  land  barren,  which  will  pro- 
duce a  rapid  or  heavy  growth  of  any  one  plant.  Indeed,  by  the 
rapidity  of  that  growth  (or  the  fitness  of  the  soil  for  its  production), 
we  have  in  some  measure  formed  a  standard  of  the  poverty  of  the 
soil. 

_  "With  some  exceptions  to  every  general  character,  the  tide-water 
district  of  Virginia  may  be  described  as  generally  level,  sandy, 
poor,  and  free  from  any  fixed  rock,  or  any  other  than  stones  rounded 
apparently  by  the  attrition  of  water.  On  much  the  greater  part 
of  the  lands,  no  stone  of  any  kind  is  to  be  found  of  larger  size  than 
gravel.  Pines  of  different  kinds  form  the  greater  part  of  a  heavy 
cover  to  the  silicious  soils  in  their  virgin  state,  and  mix  consider- 
ably with  oaks  and  other  growth  of  clay  land.  Both  these  kinds 
of  soil,  after  being  exhausted  of  their  little  fertility  by  cultivation, 
and  "  turned  out"  to  recruit,  are  soon  covered  by  young  pines  which 
grow  with  vigour  and  luxuriance.  This  general  description  applies 
more  particularly  to  the  ridges  which  separate  the  slopes  on  differ- 
ent streams.  The  ridge  lands  are  always  level,  and  very  poor — 
sometimes  clayey,  more  generally  sandy,  but  stiffer  than  would  be 
inferred  from  the  proportion  of  silicious  earth  they  contain,  which 
is  caused  by  the  fineness  of  its  particles.  Whortleberry  bushes,  as 
well  as  pines,  are  abundant  on  ridge  lands — and  numerous  shallow 
basins  are  found,  which  are  ponds  of  rain  water  in  winter,  but  dry 
in  summer.  None  of  this  large  proportion  of  our  lands  has  paid 
the  expense  of  clearing  and  cultivation,  and  much  the  greater  part 
still  remains  under  its  native  growth.  Enough,  however,  has  been 
cleared  and  cultivated  in  every  neighbourhood  to  prove,  its  utter 
worthlessness  under  common  management.  The  soils  of  ridge 
lands  vary  between  sandy  loam  and  clayey  loam.  It  is  difficult  to 
estimate  their  general  product  under  cultivation;  but  judging  from 
my  own  experience  of  such  soils,  the  product  may  be  from  five 
bushels  of  corn,  or  as  much  of  wheat,  to  the  acre  on  the  most  clayey 
soils,  to  twelve  bushels  of  corn,  and  less  than  three  of  wheat,  on 
the  most  sandy — if  wheat  were  there  attempted  to  be  made. 

_  The  slopes  extend  from  the  ridges  to  the  streams,  or  to  the  allu- 
vial bottoms,  and  include  the  whole  interval  between  neighbouring 
branches  of  the  same  stream.     This  class  of  soils  forms  another 


36  TIDE-WATER   DISTRICT   OP   VIRGINIA. 

great  body  of  lands,  of  a  higher  grade  of  fertility,  though  still  far 
from  valuable.  It  is  generally  more  sandy  than  the  poorer  ridge 
laud,  and  when  long  cultivated,  is  more  or  less  deprived  of  its  soil, 
by  the  washing  of  rains,  on  every  slight  declivity.  The  washing 
away  of  three  or  four  indies  in  depth  exposes  a  sterile  subsoil  (or 
forms  a  "gall"),  which  continues  thenceforth  bare  of  all  vegetation. 
A  greater  declivity  of  the  surface  serves  to  form  gullies  several  feet 
in  depth,  the  earth  carried  from  which  covers  and  injures  the  ad- 
jacent lower  land.  Most  of  this  kind  of  land  has  been  cleared 
and  greatly  exhausted.  Its  virgin  growth  is  often  more  of  oak, 
hickory,  and  dogwood,  than  pine ;  but  when  turned  out  of  cultiva- 
tion, an  unmixed  growth  of  pine  follows.  Land  of  this  kind  in 
general  has  very  little  durability.  Its  best  usual  product  of  corn 
may  be,  for  a  few  crops,  eighteen  or  twenty  bushels — and  even  as 
much  as  twenty-five  bushels,  from  the  highest  grade.  Wheat  is 
seldom  a  productive  or  profitable  crop  on  the  slopes,  the  soil  being 
generally  too  saudy.  When  such  soils  as  these  are  called  rich  or 
valuable  (as  most  persons  would  describe  them),  those  terms  must 
be  considered  as  only  comparative  ;  and  such  an  application  of  them 
proves  that  truly  fertile  and  valuable  soils  are  very  scarce  in  lower 
Virginia. 

Almost  the  only  very  rich  and  durable  soils  below  the  falls  of 
our  rivers  are  narrow  strips  of  high-land  along  their  banks,  and  the 
low-lands  formed  by  the  alluvion  of  the  numerous  smaller  streams 
which  water  our  country.  These  alluvial  bottoms,  though  highly 
productive,  are  lessened  in  value  by  being  generally  too  sandy,  and 
by  the  damage  they  suffer  from  being  often  inundated  by  floods  of 
rain.  The  best  high-land  soils  seldom  extend  more  than  half  a 
mile  from  the  river's  edge — sometimes  not  fifty  yards.  These  ir- 
regular margins  are  composed  of  loams  of  various  qualities,  but  all 
highly  valuable ;  and  the  best  soils  are  scarcely  to  be  surpassed  in 
their  original  fertility,  and  durability  under  severe  tillage.  Their 
nature  and  peculiarities  will  be  again  adverted  to,  and  more  fully 
described  hereafter. 

The  simple  statement  of  the  general  course  of  tillage  to  which 
this  part  of  the  country  has  been  subjected,  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  great  impoverishment  of  the  soil  has  been  the  inevitable  con- 
sequence. The  small  portion  of  rich  river  margin  was  soon  all 
cleared,  and  was  tilled  without  cessation  for  many  years.  The 
clearing  of  the  slopes  was  next  commenced,  and  is  not  yet  entirely 
completed.  On  these  soils,  the  succession  of  crops  was  less  rapid, 
or,  from  necessity,  tillage  was  sooner  suspended.  If  not  rich 
enough  for  tobacco  when  first  cleared  (or  as  soon  as  it  ceased  to  be 
so),  land  of  this  kind  was  planted  in  corn  two  or  three  years  in 
succession,  and  afterwards  every  second  year.  The  intermediate 
year  between  the  crops  of  corn,  the  field  was  "  rested"  under  a 


BARRENNESS   OP  TIDE-WATER   DISTRICT.  37 

crop  of  wheat,  if  it  would  produce  four  or  five  bushels  to  the  acre. 
If  the  sandiness,  or  exhausted  condition  of  the  soil,  denied  even 
this  small  product  of  wheat,  that  crop  was  probably  not  attempted; 
and,  instead  of  it,  or  oats,  the  field  was  exposed  to  close  grazing, 
from  the  time  of  gathering  one  crop  of  corn  to  that  of  preparing 
to  plant  another.  No  manure  was  applied,  except  on  the  tobacco 
lots  ;  and  this  succession  of  a  grain  crop  every  year,  and  afterwards 
every  second  year,  was  kept  up  as  long  as  the  field  would  produce 
five  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre.  When  reduced  below  that  pro- 
duct, and  to  still  more  below  the  necessary  expense  of  cultivation, 
the  land  was  turned  out  to  recover  under  a  new  growth  of  pines. 
After  twenty  or  thirty  years,  according  to  the  convenience  of  the 
owner,  the  same  land  would  be  again  cleared,  and  put  under  similar 
scourging  tillage,  which,  however,  would  then  much  sooner  end, 
as  before,  in  exhaustion.  Such  a  general  system  is  not  yet  every- 
where abandoned ;  and  many  years  have  not  passed  since  such  was 
the  usual  course  on  almost  every  farm. 

How  much  our  country  has  been  impoverished  during  the  last 
fifty  years,  cannot  be  determined  by  any  satisfactory  testimony. 
But,  however  we  may  differ  on  this  head,  there  are  but  few  who 
will  not  concur  in  the  opinion,  that  [up  to  1831]  our  system  of 
cultivation  has  been  every  year  lessening  the  productive  power  of 
our  lands  in  general — and  that  no  one  county,  no  neighbourhood, 
and  but  few  particular  farms,  have  been  at  all  enriched  since  their 
first  settlement  and  cultivation.  Yet  many  of  our  farming  opera- 
tions have  been  much  improved  and  made  more  productive.  Driven 
by  necessity,  proprietors  direct  more  personal  attention  to  their 
farms — better  implements  of  husbandry  are  used — every  process 
is  more  perfectly  performed — and,  whether  well  or  ill  directed,  a 
spirit  of  inquiry  and  enterprise  has  been  awakened,  which  before 
had  no  existence. 

Throughout  the  country  below  the  falls  of  the  rivers,  and  perhaps 
thirty  miles  above,  if  the  ^st  land  be  excluded,  say  one-tenth,  the 
remaining  nine-tenths  will  not  yield  an  average  product  of  ten 
bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre ;  though  that  grain  is  best  suited  to  our 
soils  in  general,  and  far  exceeds  in  quantity  all  other  kinds  raised. 
Of  course,  the  product  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  land  would  fall 
below  this  average.  Such  crops,  in  very  many  cases,  cannot  re- 
munerate the  cultivator.  If  our  remaining  wood-land  could  be  at 
once  brought  into  cultivation,  the  gross  product  of  the  country 
would  be  greatly  increased ;  but  the  nett  product  very  probably 
diminished ;  as  the  general  poverty  of  these  lands  would  cause  more 
expense  than  profit  to  accompany  their  cultivation  under  the  usual 
system.  Yet  every  year  we  are  using  all  our  exertions  to  clear 
wood-land,  and  in  fact  seldom  increase  cither  nett  or  gross  products 
— because  nearly  as  much  old  exhausted  land  is  turned  out  of  cul- 
4 


38  LOW  PROFITS   OP   TIDE-WATER   DISTRICT. 

tivation  as  is  substituted  by  the  newly  cleared.  Sound  calculations 
of  profit  and  loss  would  induce  us  even  greatly  to  reduce  the  extent 
of  our  present  cultivation,  in  lower  Virginia,  by  turning  out  aud 
leaving  wa*te  (if  not  to  be  improved),  every  acre  that  yields  less 
than  the  total  cost  of  its  tillage.* 

No  political  truth  is  better  established  than  that  the  population 
of  every  country  will  increase,  or  diminish,  according  to  its  regular 
supply  of  food.  We  know  from  the  census  of  1830,  compared  with 
those  of  1820  and  1810,  that  our  population  is  nearly  stationary, 
and,  in  some  counties,  is  actually  lessening;  and  therefore  it  is 
certain  that  [to  1830]  our  agriculture  in  general  is  not  increasing 
the  amount  of  food,  or  the  means  of  purchasing  food — with  all  the 
assistance  of  the  new  land  annually  brought  under  culture.  In 
these  circumstances,  a  surplus  population,  with  all  its  deplorable 
consequences,  is  only  prevented  by  the  great  current  of  emigration 
which  is  continually  flowing  westward.  No  matter  who  emigrates, 
or  with  what  motive — the  enterprising  or  wealthy  citizen  who 
leaves  us  to  seek  richer  lands  and  greater  profits,  and  the  slave  sold 
and  carried  away  on  account  of  his  owner's  poverty — all  concur  in 
producing  the  same  result,  though  with  very  different  degrees  of 
benefit  to  those  who  remain.  If  this  great  and  continued  drain 
from  our  population  was  stopped,  and  our  agriculture  was  not  im- 
proved, want  and  misery  would  work  to  produce  the  same  results. 
Births  would  diminish,  and  deaths  would  increase;  and  hunger  and 
disease,  operating  here  as  in  other  countries,  would  keep  down 
population  to  that  number  that  the  average  products  of  our  agri- 
cultural and  other  productive  labour  can  feed,  and  supply  with  the 
other  necessary  means  for  living. 

A  stranger  to  our  situation  and  habits  might  well  oppose  to  my 
statements  the  very  reasonable  objection,  that  no  man  would,  or 
could,  long  pursue  a  system  of  cultivation  of  which  the  returns  fell 
short  of  his  expenses,  including  rent  of  land,  hire  of  labour,  interest 
on  the  necessary  capital,  &c.  Very  true ;  if  he  had  to  pay  those 
expenses  out  of  his  profits,  he  would  soon  be  driven  from  his  farm 
to  a  jail.  But  we  own  our  land,  our  labourers,  and  stock;  and 
though  the  calculation  of  nett  profit,  or  of  loss,  is  precisely  the  same, 
yet  we  are  not  ruined  by  making  only  two  per  cent,  on  our  capital, 

[*  The  foregoing  description  was  written  in  1826,  and  first  published  in 
1831,  and  particular  exceptions  to  the  general  correctness  of  the  applica- 
tion had  been  even  then  recently  exhibited ;  and,  with  the  passage  of  every 
year  since,  these  exceptions  have  been  becoming  more  numerous  and  more 
important,  and  in  a  rapidly  increasing  ratio.  These  recent  facts  of  im- 
proved lands  and  increased  production,  as  well  as  their  peculiar  causes, 
will  be  treated  of  subsequently.  The  observations  and  deductions  presented 
in  the  remainder  of  this  chapter  were  also  of  the  same  date  as  the  forego  • 
ing  statements,  on  which  they  are  founded.   (1842.)  ] 


FIVE   GENERAL  PROPOSITIONS.  39 

provided  we  can  manage  to  live  on  that  income.  If  we  live  on 
still  less,  we  are  actually  growing  richer  (by  laying  up  a  part  of 
our  two  per  cent.),  notwithstanding  the  most  clearly-proved  regular 
loss  on  our  farming. 

Our  condition  has  been  so  gradually  growing  worse,  that  we  are 
either  not  aware  of  the  extent  of  the  evil,  or  are  in  a  great  measure 
reconciled  by  custom  to  profitless  labour.  No  hope  for  a  better 
state  of  things  can  be  entertained,  until  we  shake  off  this  apathy — 
this  excess  of  contentment,  which  makes  no  effort  to  avoid  existing 
evils.  I  have  endeavoured  to  expose  what  is  worst  in  our  situation 
as  farmers;  if  it  should  have  the  effect  of  arousing  any  of  my 
countrymen  to  a  sense  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  some  improve- 
ment, to  avoid  ultimate  ruin,  I  hope  also  to  point  out  to  some  of 
their  number,  if  not  to  all,  that  the  means  for  certain  and  highly 
profitable  improvements  are  completely  within  their  reach. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   DIFFERENT  CAPACITIES   OF   SOILS   FOR  RECEIVING 
IMPROVEMENT. 

As  far  as  the  nature  of  the  subjects  permitted,  the  foregoing 
chapters  have  been  merely  explanatory  and  descriptive.  The  same 
subjects  will  be  resumed  and  more  fully  treated  in  the  course  of 
the  following  general  argument,  the  premises  of  which  are  the  'facts 
and  circumstances  that  have  been  detailed.  The  object  of  this 
essay  will  now  be  entered  upon ;  and  what  is  desired  to  be  proved 
will  be  stated  in  a  series  of  propositions,  which  will  now  be  pre- 
sented at  one  view,  and  afterwards  separately  discussed  in  their 
proper  order. 

Proposition  1.  Soils  naturally  poor,  and  rich  soils  reduced  to 
poverty  by  cultivation,  are  essentially  different  in  their  powers  of 
retaining  putrescent  (or  alimentary)  manures;  and,  under  like 
circumstances,  the  fitness  of  any  soil  to  be  enriched  by  these  ma- 
nures is  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  its  natural  fertility. 

2d.  The  natural  sterility  of  the  soils  of  lower  Virginia  is  caused 
by  such  soils  being  destitute  of  calcareous  earth,  and  their  being 
injured  by  the  presence  and  effects  of  vegetable  acid. 

3d.  The  fertilizing  effects  of  calcareous  earth  are  chiefly  pro- 
duced by  its  power  of  neutralizing  acids,  and  of  combining  putres- 


40  NATURAL   FERTILITY. 

cent  manures  with  soils,  between  which  there  would  otherwise  be 
but  little  if  any  chemical  attraction.* 

■ith.  Poor  and  acid  soils  cannot  be  improved  durably,  or  profit- 
ably, by  putrescent  manures,  without  previously  making  such  soils 
calcareous,  and  thereby  correcting  the  natural  defect  in  their  con- 
stitution. 

5th.  Calcareous  manures  will  give  to  our  worst  soils  a  power  of 
retaining  putrescent  manures,  equal  to  that  of  the  best — and  will 
cause  more  productiveness,  and  yield  more  profit,  than  any  other 
improvement  practicable  in  lower  Virginia. 

Dismissing  from  consideration,  for  the  present,  all  the  others,  I 
shall  proceed  to  maintain  the 

First  Proposition'. — Soils  naturally  poor,  and  rich  toils  red 
to  poverty  l>y  cultivation,  are  essentially  different  in  their  powers 
of  retaining  j  i  (or  alimentary)  manv,  under 

like  circumstances,  the  fitness  of  any  soil  to  he  enriched  hy  these 
■manures  is  in  proportion  to  the  <7  !i'y. 

The  natural  fertility  of  a  soil  is  not  intended  to  be  estimated  by 
the  amount  of  its  earliest  product,  when  first  brought  under  cultiva- 
tion, because  several  temporary  causes  then  operate  either  to  keep 
down  or  to  augment  the  product.  If  land  be  cultivated  immediately 
after  the  trees  are  cut  down,  the  crop  is  greatly  lessened  by  the  nu- 
merous hiving  roots,  and  consequent  bad  tillage — by  the  excess  of 
unrotted  vegetable  matter — and  the  coldness  of  the  soil,  from 
which  the  rays  of  the  sun  had  been  so  long  excluded.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  cultivation  is  delayed  one  or  two  years,  the  leaves 
and  other  vegetable  matters  are  rotted,  and  in  the  best  state  to  sup- 
ply food  to  plants,  and  are  so  abundant,  that  a  far  better  crop  will 
be  raised  than  could  have  been  obtained  before,  or  perhaps  can  be 
again,  without  manure.  For  these  reasons,  the  degree  of  natural 
fertility  of  any  soil  should  be  measured  by  its  products  after  these 

*  When  any  substance  is  mentioned  as  combining  vrith  one  or  more  other 
substances,  as  different  manures  with  each  other,  or  with  soil.  I  mean  that 
a  union  is  formed  by  chemical  attraction,  and  not  by  simple  mixture. 
turet  are  made  by  mechanical  means,  and  may  be  separated  in  like  manner; 
but  combination*  are  chemical,  and  require  some  stronger  chemical  attrac- 
tion, to  take  away  either  of  the  bodies  so  united. 

When  two  substances  combine,  they  both  lose  their  previous  peculiar 
qualities,  or  neutralize  them  for  each  other,  and  form  a  third  substance 
different  from  both.  Thus,  if  certain  known  proportions  of  muriatic  acid 
and  pure  or  caustic  soda  be  brought  together,  their  strong  attraction  will 
cause  them  to  combine  immediately.  The  strong  corrosive  acid  qxtality 
of  the  one.  and  the  equally  peculiar  alkaline  taste  and  powers  of  the  other, 
will  neutralize  or  entirely  destroy  each  other — and  the  compound  formed  is 
e#mmon  table  salt,  the  qualities  of  which  are  as  strongly  marked,  but 
totally  different  from  those  of  either  of  its  constituent  parts. 


SOILS  NATURALLY  RICH  OR  POOR.  41 

temporary  causes  have  ceased  to  act,  which  will  generally  take  place 
before  the  third  or  fourth  crop  is  obtained.  According,  then,  to 
this  definition,  a  certain  degree  of  permanency  in  its  early  produc- 
tiveness is  necessary  to  entitle  a  soil  to  be  termed  naturally  fertile. 
It  is  in  this  sense  that  I  deny  to  any  poor  lands,  except  such  as 
were  naturally  fertile,  the  capacity  of  being  made  rich  by  putres- 
cent manures  only. 

The  foregoing  proposition  would  by  many  persons  be  so  readily 
admitted  as  true,  that  attempting  to  prove  it  would  be  deemed 
entirely  superfluous.  But  many  others  will  as  strongly  deny  its 
truth,  and  can  support  their  opposition  by  high  agricultural 
authorities. 

General  readers,  who  may  have  no  connexion  with  farming,  must 
have  gathered  from  the  incidental  notices  in  various  literary  and 
descriptive  works,  that  some  countries  or  districts  that  were  noted 
for  their  uncommon  fertility  or  barrenness  as  far  back  as  any 
accounts  of  them  have  been  recorded,  still  retain  the  same  general 
character,  through  every  change  of  culture,  government,  and  even 
of  races  of  inhabitants.  They  know  that,  for  some  centuries  at 
least,  there  has  been  no  change  in  the  strong  contrast  between  the 
barrenness  of  Norway,  Brandenburg,  and  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land, and  the  fertility  of  Flanders,  Lombardy,  and  Valencia.  Sicily, 
notwithstanding  its  government  is  calculated  to  discourage  in 
dustry,  and  production  of  every  profitable  kind,  still  exhibits  that 
fertility  for  which  it  was  celebrated  two  thousand  years  ago.  It 
seems  a  necessary  inference  from  the  many  statements  of  which 
these  are  examples,  that  the  labours  of  man  have  been  but  of  little 
avail  in  altering,  generally  or  permanently,  or  in  any  marked  de- 
gree, the  characters  and  qualities  given  to  soils  by  nature. 

Most  of  our  experienced  practical  cultivators,  through  a  different 
course,  have  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion.  Their  practice  has 
taught  them  the  truth  of  this  proposition ;  and  the  opinions  thus 
formed  have  profitably  directed  their  most  important  operations. 
They  are  accustomed  to  estimate  the  worth  of  land  by  its  natural 
degree  of  fertility;  and  by  the  same  rule  they  are  directed  on  what 
soils  to  bestow  their  scanty  stock  of  manure,  and  where  to  expect 
exhausted  fields  to  recover  by  rest,  and  their  own  unassisted  powers. 
But,  content  with  knowing  the  fact,  this  useful  class  of  farmers 
have  never  inquired  for  its  cause ;  and  even  their  opinions  on  this, 
as  on  most  other  subjects,  have  not  been  communicated  so  as  to 
benefit  other  cultivators. 

But  if  all  literary  men,  who  are  not  farmers,  and  all  practical 
cultivators,  who  seldom  read,  admitted  the  truth  of  my  proposition, 
it  would  avail  but  little  for  improving  our  agricultural  operations  j 
and  the  only  prospect  of  its  being  usefully  disseminated  is  through 

that  class  of  farmers  who  have  received  their  first  opinions  of  im- 
4* 


42  ERRONEOUS   DOCTRINES   OF  WRITERS. 

proving  soils  from  books,  and  whose  subsequent  plans  and  practices 
Lave  grown  out  of  those  opinions.  If  poor  natural  soils  cannot  be 
durably  or  profitably  improved  by  putrescent  manures,  this  truth 
should  not  only  be  known,  but  be  kept  constantly  in  view,  by 
every  farmer  who  can  hope  to  improve  with  success.  Yet  it  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  that  the  difference  in  the  capacities  of  soils  for 
receiving  improvement  has  not  attracted  the  attention  of  scientific 
farmers ;  and  the  doctrine  has  no  direct  and  positive  support  from 
the  author  of  any  treatise  on  agriculture,  European  or  American, 
that  I  have  been  able  to  consult.  On  .the  contrary,  it  seems  to  be 
considered  by  all  of  them,  that  to  collect  and  apply  as  much 
vegetable  and  animal  manure  as  possible,  is  sufficient  to  insure 
profit  to  every  farmer,  and  fertility  to  every  soil.  They  do  not  tell 
us  that  numerous  exceptions  to  that  rule  will  be  found,  and  that 
many  soils  of  apparently  good  texture,  if  not  incapable  of  being 
enriched  from  the  barn-yard,  would  at  least  cause  more  loss  than 
clear  profit,  by  being  improved  from  that  source, 

When  it  is  assumed  that  the  silence  of  every  distinguished  author 
as  to  certain  soils  being  incapable  of  being  profitably  enriched, 
amounts  to  ignorance  of  the  fact,  or  a  tacit  denial  of  its  truth — it 
may  be  objected  that  the  exception  was  not  omitted  from  either  of 
these  causes,  but  because  it  was  established  and  undoubted.  This 
is  barely  possible  ;  but  even  if  such  were  the  case,  their  silence  has 
had  all  the  ill  consequences  that  could  have  grown  out  of  a  positive 
denial  of  any  exceptions  to  the  propriety  of  manuring  poor  soils. 
Every  zealous  young  farmer,  who  draws  most  of  his  knowledge  and 
opinions  from  books,  adopts  precisely  the  same  idea  of  their  di- 
rections— and  if  he  owns  barren  soils  he  probably  throws  away  his 
labour  and  manure  for  their  improvement,  for  years,  before  experience 
compels  him  to  abandon  his  hopes,  and  acknowledge  that  his  guides 
have  led  him  only  to  failure  and  loss.  Such  farmers  as  I  allude 
to,  by  their  enthusiasm  and  spirit  of  enterprise,  are  capable  of 
rendering  the  most  important  benefits  to  agriculture.  Whatever 
may  be  their  impelling  motives,  the  public  derives  nearly  all  the 
benefit  of  their  successful  plans ;  and  their  far  more  numerous  mis- 
directed labours,  and  consequent  disappointments,  are  productive  of 
national,  still  more  than  individual  loss.  The  occurrence  of  only 
a  few  such  mistakes,  made  by  reading  farmers,  will  serve  to  acquit 
me  of  combating  a  shadow — and  there  are  few  of  us  who  cannot 
recollect  some  such  examples. 

But  if  the  foregoing  objection  has  any  weight  in  justifying  Euro- 
pean authors  in  not  naming  this  exception,  it  can  have  none  for 
those  of  our  own  country.  If  it  be  admitted  that  soils  naturally 
poor  are  incapable  of  being  enriched  with  profit,  that  admission 
must  cover  three-fourths  of  all  the  high  land  in  the  tide-water  dis- 
trict.    Surely  no  one  will  contend  that  so  sweeping  an  exception 


DOCTRINE   OF   "ARATOR."  43 

was  silently  understood  by  the  author  of  '  Arator'  as  qualifying  his 
exhortations  to  improve  our  lands;  and  if  no  such  exception  were 
intended  to  be  made,  then  will  his  directions  for  enriching  soils  and 
his  promises  of  reward  be  found  equally  fallacious,  for  the  greater 
portion  of  the  country  which  his  work  was  especially  intended  to 
benefit.  The  omission  of  any  such  exception,  by  the  writers  of  the 
United  States,  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  the  land  has  been  so 
recently  brought  under  cultivation,  that  the  original  degree  of 
fertility  of  almost  every  farm  may  be  known  to  its  owner,  and  com- 
pared with  the  after  progress  of  exhaustion  or  improvement. 

Many  authorities  might  be  adduced  to  prove  that  I  have  correctly 
stated  what  is  the  fair  and  only  inference  to  be  drawn  from  agricul- 
tural books,  respecting  the  capacity  of  poor  soils  to  receive  improve- 
ment. But  a  few  of  the  most  strongly  marked  passages  in  '  Arator' 
will  be  fully  sufficient  for  this  purpose.  The  venerated  author  of  that 
work  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  European  agricul- 
turists, to  have  mistaken  their  doctrines  in  this  important  particular. 
A  large  portion  of  his  useful  life  was  devoted  to.  the  successful 
improvement  of  exhausted,  but  originally  fertile  lands.  His  instruc- 
tions for  producing  similar  improvements  are  expressly  addressed 
to  the  cultivators  of  the  eastern  parts  of  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, and  are  given  as  applicable  to  all  our  soils,  without  exception. 
Considering  all  these  circumstances,  the  conclusions  which  are 
evidently  and  unavoidably  deduced  from  his  work,  may  be  fairly 
considered,  not  only  as  supported  by  his  own  experience,  but  as 
concurring  with  the  general  doctrine  of  improving  poor  soils,  main- 
tained by  previous  writers. 

At  page  5-t,  third  edition  of '  Arator,'  "enclosing"  (i.  e.  leaving 
fields  to  receive  their  own  vegetable  cover,  for  their  improvement, 
during  the  years  of  rest)  is  said  to  be  "  the  most  powerful  means 
of  fertilizing  the  earth" — and  the  process  is  declared  to  be  rapid, 
the  returns  near,  and  the  gain  great. 

At  page  01  are  the  following  passages  :  "If  these  few  means  of 
fertilizing  the  country  (corn-stalks,  straw,  and  animal  dung)  were 
skilfully  used,  they  would  of  themselves  suffice  to  change  its  state 
from  sterility  to  fruitfulness." — "  By  the  litter  of  Indian  corn,  and 
of  small  grain,  and  of  penning  cattle,  managed  with  only  an  inferior 
degree  of  skill,  in  union  with  enclosing,  I  will  venture  to  affirm  that 
a  farm  may  in  ten  years  be  made  to  double  its  produce.,  and  in 
twenty  to  quadruple  it." 

No  opinions  could  be  more  strongly  or  unconditionally  expressed 
than  these.  No  reservation  or  exception  is  made.  I  may  safely 
appeal  to  each  of  the  many  hundreds  who  have  attempted  to  obey 
these  instructions,  to  declare  whether  any  one  considered  his  own 
naturally  poor  soils  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  these  promises — or 


44  EVIDENCE    OF   FACTS. 

whether  a  tithe  of  the  promised  benefit  was  realized  upon  trial  on 
any  farm  having  generally  Bach  nils. 

Iu  a  field  of  mine  that  has  heen  secured  from  grazing  since  1  v14, 
and  cultivated  on  the  mild  four-shift  rotation,  the  produce  of  a 
marked  spot  has  been  measured  every  fourth  year  (when  in  corn) 
since  1>20.  The  difference  of  product  has  been  such  as  the  dif- 
ferences of  season  might  have  caused — aud  the  last  crop  (in  1828 
was  worse  than  those  of  either  of  the  two  preceding  cow 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  even  the  smallest  increase  of 
productive  power  had  taken  place  in  all  the  preceding  fourteen 
years.  [Xor  has  there  been,  to  1841,  in  the  apparent  products  of 
this  ground,  any  manifestation  that  there  has  been  any  more  of 
subsequent  than  of  previous  improvement,  from  the  vegetable 
manurings  furnished  by  its  growth.      1^42.] 

[A  still  more  striking  proof,  because  of  the  much  larger  scale,  as 
well  as  long  continuance  of  the  experiment,  has  been  very  recently 
(in  1842),  as  well  as  in  former  times,  mentioned  to  me,  as  confirm- 
ation of  my  views  in  this  respect.  Col.  George  Blow,  of  Sussex, 
a  highly  respectable  gentleman  and  intelligent  and  observant 
farmer,  had  adhered  for  nearly  thirty  years  to  Taylor's  "  enclosing 
system,"  and  with  a  very  mild  rotation,  on  a  farm  of  GOO  arable 
acres,  of  sandy  soil,  and  originally  poor;  and  had  taken  but  one 
crop  (corn)  in  every  three  years.  A  few  spots  only  of  better 
quality  (the  sites  of  old  buildings,  &c.)  were  put  in  wheat  or  oats 
after  the  corn;  the  great  body  of  the  land  having  had  regularly 
two  years  in  three  to  rest,  and  to  manure  itself  by  its  volunteer 
growth  of  weeds  and  grass.  Very  little  grazing,  and  that  but 
rarely,  was  permitted.  There  could  have  been  no  material  mistake 
as  to  the  general  products  and  results ;  and  the  proprietor  is  confi- 
dent that  the  land  has  not  improved  in  production  in  all  this  long 
time.  Yet,  on  soil  differently  constituted,  Col.  Blow  has  improved 
and  increased  the  products,  rapidly  and  profitably.  These  two 
facts,  though  observed  more  particularly  and  for  longer  time  than 
any  others  known,  agree  with,  and  are  but  confirmatory  of  others 
presented  to  some  extent  on  almost  every  farm  in  the  tide-water 
region  of  Virginia.     1>42.] 

It  is  far  from  my  intention,  by  these  remarks,  and  statements  of 
facts,  to  deny  the  propriety,  or  to  question  the  highly  beneficial 
results,  of  applying  the  system  of  improvement  recommended  by 
'  Arator,'  to  soils  originally  fertile.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  as  much 
my  object  to  maintain  the  facility  of  restoring  to  worn  lands  their 
natural  degree  of  fertility,  by  vegetable  applications,  as  it  is  to 
deny  the  power  of  exceeding  that  degree,  however  low  it  may  have 
been. 

One  more  quotation  will  be  offered,  because  its  recent  date  and 
the  source  whence  it  is  derived  furnish  the  best  proof  that  it  is  still 


orrosiNG  DOCTRINE.  45 

the  received  opinion,  among  agricultural  writers,  that  all  soils  may 
be  profitably  improved  by  putrescent  manures.  An  article  in  the 
*  American  Farmer,'  of  October  14th,  1831,  on  "manuring  large 
farms,"  by  the  editor  (Cr.  13.'  Smith),  contains  the  following  ex- 
pressions. "  By  proper  exertions,  every  farm  in  the  United  States 
can  be  manured  with  less  expense  than  the  surplus  profits  arising 
from  the  manure  would  come  "to.  This  we  sincerely  believe,  and 
we  have  arrived  at  this  conclusion  from  long  and  attentive  observa- 
tion. We  never  yet  saw  a  farm  that  we  could  not  point  to  means 
of  manuring,  and  bring  into  a  state  of  high  and  profitable  cultiva- 
tion at  an  expense  altogether  inconsiderable  when  contrasted  with 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  it."  The  remainder  of  the 
article  shows  that  putrescent  manures  are  principally  relied  on  to 
produce  these  effects;  marsh  and  swamp  mud  are  the  only  kinds 
referred  to  that  are  not  entirely  putrescent  in  their  action ;  and  mud 
certainly  cannot  be  used  to  manure  every  farm.  Mr.  Smith  having 
been  long  the  conductor  of  a  valuable  agricultural  journal,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  is  extensively  acquainted  with  the  works  and 
opinions  of  the  best  writers  on  agriculture ;  and  therefore,  his 
advancing  the  foregoing  opinions,  as  certain  and  undoubted,  is  as 
much  a  proof  of  the  general  concurrence  therein  of  preceding 
writers,  as  if  the  same  had  been  given  as  a  digest  of  their  pre- 
cepts.* 

Some  persons  will  readily  admit  the  great  difference  in  the  capa- 
cities of  soils  for  improvement,  but  consider  a  deficiency  of  clay 
only  to  cause  the  want  of  power  to  retain  manures.  The  general 
excess  of  sand  in  our  poor  lands  might  warrant  this  belief  in  a 
superficial  and  limited  observer.  But  though  clay  soils  are  more 
rarely  met  with,  they  present,  in  proportion  to  their  extent,  full  as 
much  poor  land.  The  most  barren  and  worthless  soils  in  the 
county  of  Prince  George  arc  also  the  stiffest.  A  poor  clay  soil  will 
retain  manure  longer  than  a  poor  sandy  soil — but  it  will  not  the 
less  certainly  lose  its  acquired  fertility  at  a  somewhat  later  period. 
When  it  is  considered  that  a  much  greater  quantity  of  manure  is 
required  by  clay  soils,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  tem- 

[*  Though  not  then  kno-wn  to  me,  and  probably  to  few  if  any  others  in 
America,  there  was  therein  print  the  expression  of  the  opinion  which  I 
have  announced  and  maintained  above.  This  exception  I  subsequently  met 
with,  and  republished  the  article  in  the  Farmer's  Register  (Vol.  iv.  p.  335.) 
It  was  a  communication  from  the  excellent  practical  farmer,  William  Daw- 
son, of  Scotland,  to  the  Farmer's  Magazine,  published  in  Edinburgh.  In 
this  communication,  the  writer,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  he  only,  before 
myself,  asserts  opinions  which  approach  very  nearly  to  the  doctrine  above 
maintained,  of  the  incapacity  of  naturally  poor  soils  for  being  profitably 
or  durably  improved  by  putrescent  manures  alone — and  also  their  newly 
acquired  fitness  for  being  enriched  after  having  been  limed.] 


46  LIMIT    TO   IMPROVEMENT    OF   SOILS. 

porary  improvement  of  the  sandy  soils  would  not  be  attended  with 
more  profit — or,  more  properly  speaking,  with  loss  actual  I 

It  is  true  that  the  capacity  of  a  soil  for  improvement  is  greatly 
affected  by  its  texture,  shape  of  the  surface,  and  its  supply  of 
moisture.     Dry,  level,  or  clay  soils,  will  retain  manure  longer  than 
the  sandy,  hilly,  or  wet.     But  however  important  these  circum- 
stances may  be,  neither  the  presence  nor  absence  of  any  of  them 
can  cause  the  essential  differences  of  capacity  for  improvement. 
There  are  some  rich  and  valuable  soils  with  either  one  or  more  of 
all  these  faults — and  there  are  other  soils  the  least  capable  of  re- 
ceiving improvement,  free  from   objections   as  to  their  texture, 
decree  of  moisture,  or  inclination  of  their  surface.     Indeed  the 
great  body  of  our  poor  ridge  lands  are  more  free  from  faults  of  this 
kind,  than  soils  of  far  greater  productiveness  usually  are.     Unless 
then  some  other  and  far  more  powerful  obstacle  to  improvement 
exists,  why  should  not  all  our  wood-land  be  highly  enriched,  by  the 
thousands  of  crops  of  leaves  which  have  successively  fallen  and 
rotted  there?     Notwithstanding   this  vegetable  manuring,  which 
infinitely  exceeds  all  that  the  industry  and  patience  of  man  can 
possibly  equal,  most  of  our  wood-land  remains  poor ;  and  this  one 
fact   (which  at  least  is  indisputable)  ought  to  satisfy  all  of  the 
impossibility  of  enriching  such  soils  by  putrescent  manures  only. 
Some  few  acres  may  be  highly  improved,   by  receiving  all  the 
manure  derived  from  the  offal  of  the  whole  farm — and  entire  farms, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  towns,  may  be  kept  rich  by  continually 
applying  large  quantities  of  purchased  manures.     But  no  where  can 
a  farm  be  found,  which  has  been  improved  beyond  its  original 
fertility,  by  means  of  the  vegetable  resources  of  its  own  arable 
fields.     If  this  opinion  is  erroneous,  nothing  is  easier  than  to  prove 
my  mistake,  by  adducing  undoubted  examples  of  such  improve- 
ments having  been  made. 

But  a  few  remarks  will  suffice  on  the  capacity  for  improvement 
of  worn  lands,  which  were  originally  fertile.  With  regard  to  these 
soils,  I  have  only  to  concur  in  the  received  opinion  of  their  fitness 
for  durable  and  profitable  improvement  by  putrescent  manures. 
After  being  exhausted  by  cultivation,  they  will  recover  their  pro- 
ductive power,  by  merely  being  left  to  rest  for  a  sufficient  time, 
and  receiving  the  manure  made  by  nature,  of  the  weeds  and  other 
plants  that  grow  and  die  upon  the  land.  Even  if  robbed  of  the 
greater  part  of  that  supply,  by  the  grazing  of  animals,  a  still  longer 
time  will  serve  to  obtain  the  same  result.  The  better  a  soil  was  at 
first,  the  sooner  it  will  recover  by  these  means,  or  by  artificial 
manuring.  On  soils  of  this  kind,  the  labours  of  the  improving 
farmer  meet  with  certain  success  and  full  reward ;  and  whenever 
we  hear  of  remarkable  improvements  of  poor  lands  by  putrescent 


PROPER   MODE   OP   INVESTIGATION.  47 

manures,  further  inquiry  will  show  us  that  these  poor  lands  had 
once  hecn  rich. 

The  continued  fertility  of  certain  countries,  for  hundreds  or  even 
thousands  of  years,  does  not  prove  that  the  land  could  not  be,  or 
had  not  been,  exhausted  by  cultivation;  but  only  that  it  was  slow 
to  exhaust  and  rapid  in  recovering;  so  that  whatever  repeated 
changes  may  have  occurred  in  each  particular  tract,  the  whole 
country  taken  together  always  retained  a  high  degree  of  productive- 
ness. Still  the  same  rule  will  apply  to  the  richest  and  tile  poorest 
soils — to  wit,  that  each  exerts  strongly  a  force  to  retain  as  much 
fertility  as  nature  gave  to  it — and  that  when  worn  and  reduced, 
each  kind  may  easily  be  restored  to  its  original  state,  but  cannot  be 
raised  higher,  with  either  durability  or  profit,  by  putrescent  ma- 
nures, whether  applied  by  the  bounty  of  nature,  or  the  industry 
of  man. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EFFECTS  OF  THE   PRESENCE  OF  CALCAREOU£  EARTH  IN  SOILS. 

Proposition  2. —  The  natural  sterility  of  the  soils  of  lower  Virgin  ia 
is  caused  by  such  soils  being  destitute  of  calcareous  eartli,  and 
their  being  injured  by  the  presence  and  effects  of  vegetable  acid. 

The  means  which  would  appear  the  most  likely  to  lead  to  the 
causes  of  the  different  capacities  of  soils  for  improvement  is  to 
inquire  whether  any  known  ingredient  or  quality  is  always  to  be 
found  belonging  to  improvable  soils,  and  never  to  the  unim- 
provable— or  which  always  accompanies  the  latter,  and  never  the 
former  kind.  If  either  of  these  results  can  be  obtained,  we  will 
have  good  ground  for  supposing  that  we  have  discovered  the  general 
cause  of  fertility,  in  the  one  case,  or  of  barrenness,  in  the  other; 
and  it  will  follow  that,  if  we  can  supply  to  barren  soils  the  deficient 
beneficial  ingredient — or  can  destroy  that  which  is  injurious  to 
them — their  incapacity  for  receiving  improvement  will  be  removed. 
All  the  common  ingredients  of  soils,  as  sand,  clay,  or  gravel — and 
such  qualities  as  moisture  or  dryness — a  level,  or  a  hilly  surface — 
however  they  may  affect  the  value  of  soils,  are  each  sometimes 
found  exhibited,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  in  both  the  fertile  and  the 
sterile.  The  abundance  of  putrescent  vegetable  matter  might  well 
be  considered  the  cause  of  fertility,  by  one  who  judged  only  from 
lands  long  under  cultivation.  But  though  vegetable  matter  in 
sufficient  quantity  is  essential  to  the  existence  of  fertility,  yet  will 


48  FERTILITY   OF   SHELLY   SOILS. 

this  substance  also  be  found  inadequate  for  the  cause.  Vegetable 
matter  abounds  in  all  rich  land,  it  is  admitted;  but  it  has  also  been 
furnished  by  nature,  in  quantities  exceeding  all  computation,  to  the 
most  barren  soils  known. 

But  there  is  one  ingredient  of  which  not  the  smallest  proportion 
can  be  found  in  any  of  our  poor  soils,  and  which,  wherever  found, 
(and  not  in  great  excess),  indicates  a  soil  remarkable  for  natural 
and  durable  fertility.  This  is  calcareous  earth,  or  carbonate  of 
lime.  These  facts  alone,  if  sustained,  will  go  far  to  prove  that  this 
earth  is  the  cause  of  fertility,  and  the  cure  for  barrenness. 

On  some  part  of  most  farms  touching  tide-water,  either  mussel 
or  oyster  shells  are  found  mixed  with  the  soil.  Oyster  shells  are 
confined  to  the  lands  on  salt  water,  where  they  are  very  abundant, 
and  sometimes  extend  through  large  fields.  Higher  up  the  rivers, 
mussel  shells  only  are  to  be  seen  thus  deposited  by  nature,  or  by 
the  aboriginal  inhabitants,  and  they  decrease  as  we  approach  the 
falls  of  the  rivers.  The  proportion  of  shelly  land  in  the  counties 
highest  on  tide-water  is  very  small ;  but  the  small  extent  of  these 
spots  does  not  prevent,  but  rather  aids,  the  exhibition  of  the  pecu- 
liar qualities  of  such  soils.  Spots  of  shelly  land,  not  exceeding  a 
few  acres  in  extent,  could  not  well  have  been  cultivated  differently 
from  the  balance  of  the  fields  of  which  they  formed  parts — and 
therefore  they  can  bfe  better  compared  with  the  worse  soils  under 
like  treatment.  Every  acre  of  shelly  land  is,  or  has  been,  remark- 
able for  its  richness,  and  still  more  for  its  durability.  There  are 
few  farmers  among  us  who  have  not  heard  described  tracts  of  shelly 
soil  on  Nansemond  and  York  rivers,  which  are  celebrated  for  their 
long  resistance  of  the  most  exhausting  course  of  tillage,  and  which 
still  remain  fertile,  notwithstanding  all  the  injury -which  they  must 
have  sustained  from  their  severe  treatment.  We  are  told  that  on 
some  of  these  lands,  corn  has  been  raised  every  successive  year, 
without  any  help  from  manure,  for  a  longer  time  .than  the  owners 
could  remember,  or  could  be  informed  of  correctly.  But  without 
relying  on  any  such  remarkable  cases,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
every  acre  of  our  shelly  land  has  been  at  least  as  much  tilled,  and 
as  little  manured,  as  any  in  the  country;  and  that  it  is  still  the 
richest  and  most  valuable  of  all  our  old  cleared  lands. 

The  fertile  but  narrow  strips,  along  the  banks  of  our  rivers 
('which  form  the  small  portion  of  our  high-land  of  first-rate  quality), 
seldom  extend  far  without  exhibiting  spots  in  which  shells  are 
visible,  so  that  the  eye  alone  is  sufficient  to  prove  the  soil  of  such 
places  to  be  calcareous.  The  similarity  of  natural  growth,  and  of 
all  other  marks  of  character,  are  such,  that  the  observer  might  very 
naturally  infer  that  the  former  presence  of  shells  had  given  the 
same  valuable  qualities  to  all  these  soils — but  that  they  had  so 
generally  rotted,  and  been  incorporated  with  the  other  earths,  that 


NATURAL   GROWTHS   OF   DIFFERENT   SOILS.  49 

they  remained  visible  only  in  a  few  places,  -where  they  had  been 
most  abundant.  The  accuracy  of  this  inference  will  hereafter  bo 
examined. 

The  natural  growth  of  the  shelly  soils  (and  of  those  adjacent  of 
similar  value)  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  great  body  of 
our  lands.  Whatever  tree  thrives  well  on  the  one,  is  seldom  found 
on  the  other  class  of  soils — or,  if  found,  it  shows  plainty,  by  its 
imperfect  and  stunted  condition,  on  how  unfriendly  a  soil  it  is 
placed.  To  the  rich  river  margins  are  almost  entirely  confined  the 
black  or  wild  locust,  hackberry  or  sugar-nut  tree,  and  papaw.  The 
locust  is  with  great  difficulty  eradicated,  or  the  newer  growth  of  it 
kept  under  on  cultivated  lands;  and  from  the  remarkable  rapidity 
with  which  it  springs  up  and  increases  in  size,  it  forms  a  serious 
obstacle  to  the  cultivation  of  land  on  the  river  banks.  Yet  on  the 
wood-land  only  a  mile  or  two  from  the  river,  not  a  locust  is  to  be 
seen.  On  shelly  soils,  pines  aud  broom-grass  [Andropogon  scopa- 
riiu]  caunot  thrive,  and  are  rarely  able  to  maintain  even  the  most 
sickly  growth. 

Some  may  say  that  these  striking  differences  of  growth  do  not 
so  much  show  a  difference  in  the  constitution  of  the  soils,  as  in 
their  state  of  fertility;  or  that  one  class  of  the  plants  above  named 
delights  in  rich,  and  the  other  in  poor  land.  No  plant  prefers  poor 
to  rich  soil — or  can  thrive  better  on  a  scarcity  of  food,  than  with 
an  abundant  supply.  Pine,  broom-grass,  and  sheep-sorrel,  delight 
in  a  class  of  soils  that  are  generally  unproductive — but  not  on 
account  of  their  poverty;  for  all  these  plants  show,  by  the  greater 
or  less  vigour  of  their  growth,  the  abundance  or  scarcity  of  vegetable 
matter  in  the  soil.  But  on  this  class  of  soils,  no  quantity  of 
vegetable  manure  could  make  locusts  flourish,  though  they  will 
grow  rapidly  on  a  calcareous  hill-side,  from  which  all  the  soil 
capable  of  supporting  other  oi'dinary  plants  has  been  washed  away. 

In  thus  describing  and  distinguishing  soils  by  their  growth,  let 
me  not  be  understood  as  extending  these  rules,  without  exception, 
to  other  soils  and  climates  than  our  own.  It  is  well  established 
that  changes  of  kind  in  successive  growths  of  timber  have  occurred 
in  other  places,  without  any  known  cause;  and  a  difference  of 
climate  may  elsewhere  produce  effects,  which  here  would  indicate 
a  change  of  soil. 

Some  rare  apparent  exceptions  to  the  general  fertility  of  shelly 
lands  arefbund  where  the  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  is  in  great 
excess.  Too  much  of  this  ingredient  causes  even  a  greater  degree 
of  sterility  than  its  total  absence.  This  cause  of  barrenness  is 
very  common  in  France  and  England  (on  chalk  soils),  and  very 
extensive  tracts  are  not  worth  the  expense  of  cultivation,  or  im- 
provement. The  few  small  spots  that  are  rendered  barren  here  are 
seldom  (if  ever)  so  affected  by  the  excess  of  oyster  or  mussel  shells 


50  ERROXEOrS   VIEWS   OF  AUTHORS. 

in  the  soil.  These  effects  generally  are  caused  by  beds  of  fossd 
sea-shell?,  which  in  ^orae  places  reach  the  surface,  and  are  thus 
exposed  to  the  plough.  These  spots  (which  are  the  only  supcr- 
calcareous  or  chalky  soils  of  this  region)  are  not  often  more  than 
thirty  feet  across,  and  their  nature  is  generally  evident  to  the  eye ; 
and  if  not,  is  so  easily  determined  hy  chemical  te"sts,  as  to  leave  no 
reason  for  confounding  the  injurious  and  beneficial  effects  of  cal- 
careous earth.  This  exception  to  the  general  fertilizing  effect  of 
this  ingredient  of  our  soils  would  scarcely  require  naming,  but  to 
mark  what  might  be  deemed  an  apparent  contradiction.  But  this 
exception,  and  its  cause,  must  be  kept  in  mind,  and  considered  as 
always  understood  and  admitted  throughout  all  my  remarks,  and 
which  therefore  it  is  not  necessary  to  name  specially,  when  the 
general  qualities  of  calcareous  earth  are  spoken  of.  [After  all,  this 
exception  is  only  in  appearance,  as  it  is  found  only  in  super-cal- 
careous soils,  and  never  in  any  soil  in  which  calcareous  earth  is  not 
so  abundant  as  to  form  a  physical  material. — 1S40.] 

In  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  I  advanced  the  important  fact 
that  none  of  our  poor  soils  contain  naturally  the  least  particle  of  cal- 
careous earth.  So  far,  this  is  supported  merely  by  my  assertion — and 
all  those  who  have  studied  agriculture  in  books  will  require  strong 
proof  before  they  can  give  credit  to  the  existence  of  a  fact,  which 
is  either  unsupported,  or  indirectly  denied,  by  all  written  authority. 
Others,  who  have  not  attended  to  such  descriptions  of  soils  in 
general,  may  be  too  ready  to  admit  the  truth  of  my  assertion — 
because,  not  knowing  the  opinions  on  this  subject  heretofore  re- 
ceived and  undoubted,  they  would  not  be  aware  of  the  importance 
of  their  admission. 

It  is  true  that  no  author  has  said  expressly  that  every  soil  conT 
tains  calcareous  earth.  Neither  perhaps  has  any  one  stated  that 
every  soil  contains  some  silicious  or  aluminous  earth.  But  the 
manner  in  which  each  one  has  treated  of  soils  and  their  constituent 
parts,  would  cause  their  readers  to  infer  that  neither  of  these  three 
earths  is  ever  entirely  wanting — or  at  least  that  the  entire  absence 
of  the  calcareous  is  as  rare  as  the  absence  of  silicious  or  aluminous 
earth.  Xor  are  we  left  to  gather  this  opinion  solely  from  indirect 
testimony,  as  the  following  examples,  from  the  highest  authorities, 
will  prove.  Davy  says,  "four  earths  generally  abound  in  soils,  the 
aluminous,  the  silicious,  the  calcareous,  and  the  magnesian  ;"*  and 
the  soils  of  which  he  states  the  constituent  parts,  oHftnned  by 
chemical  analysis,  as  well  as  those  reported  by  Kirwan,  and  by 
Young,  all  contain  some  proportion  (and  generally  a  large  propor- 
tion) of  calcareous  earth. f     Kirwan  states  the  component  parts  of 

*Davy"s  Agr.  (hem..  Lecture  1. 

f  Agr.  Ckem.,  Lect.  4. — Kirwan  on  Manures — and  Young's  Prize  Essay 
ou  Manures. 


ASSERTIONS   OF   CALX   IN   SOIL   BEINO   USUAL.  51 

a  soil  which  contained  thirty-one  per  cent,  of  calcareous  earth,  and 
he  supposes  that  proportion  neither  too  little  nor  too  much.* 
Young  mentions  soils  of  extraordinary  fertility  containing  seventeen 
and  twenty  per  cent.,  besides  others  with  smaller  proportions  of 
calcareous  earth — and  says  that  Bergman  found  thirty  per  cent, 
in  the  best  soil  he  examined.'!'  Rozier  speaks  still  more  strongly 
for  the  general  diffusion  and  large  proportions  of  this  ingredient 
of  soils.  In  his  general  description  of  earths  and  soils.,  he  gives 
examples  of  the  supposed  composition  of  the  three  grades  of  soils 
which  he  designates  by  the  terms  rich,  good,  and  middling  sack;  to 
the  first  class  he  assigns  a  proportion  of  one-tenth,  to  the  second, 
one-fourth,  and  to  the  last,  one-half  of  its  amount  of  calcareous 
earth.  The  fair  interpretation  of  the  passage  is  that  the  author 
considered  these  large  proportions  as  general,  in  France — and  he 
gives  no  intimation  of  any  soil  entirely  without  calcareous  earth. | 

The  position  assumed  above,  of  the  general  or  universal  concur- 
rence of  former  European  authors  in  the  supposed  general  presence 
of  calcareous  earth  in  soils,  could  be  placed  beyond  dispute  by  ex- 
tracts from  their  publications.  But  this  would  require  many  and 
long  extracts,  too  bulky  to  include  here,  and  which  cannot  be  fairly 
abridged,  or  exhibited  by  a  few  examples.  No  author  says  directly, 
indeed,  that  calcareous  earth  is  present  in  all  soils;  but  its  being 
always  named  as  one  of  the  ingredients  of  soils  in  general,  and  no 
cases  of  its  absolute  deficiency  in  tilled  lands  being  directly  stated, 
amount  to  the  declaration  that  calcareous  earth  is  very  rarely,  if 
ever,  entirely  wanting  in  any  soil.  We  may  find  enough  directions 
to  apply  calcareous  manures  to  soils  that  are  deficient  in  that  in- 
gredient; but  that  deficiency  seems  to  be  not  spoken  of  as  absolute, 
but  relative  to  other  soils  more  abundantly  supplied.  In  the  same 
manner,  writers  on  agriculture  direct  clay,  or  sand,  to  be  used  as 
manure  for  soils  very  deficient  in  one  or  the  other  of  those  earths; 
but  without  meaning  that  any  soil  under  cultivation  can  be  found 
entirely  destitute  of  sand  or  of  clay.  My  proofs  from  general 
treatises  would  therefore  be  generally  indirect ;  and  the  quotations 

*  Kirwan  on  Manures,  article  "  Clayey  Loam." 

f  Young's  Essay  on  Manures. ' 

I lf  Composition  of  soils.  Examples  of  the  various  composition  of  soils: 
Etch  soil;  silicious  earth,  2  parts ;  aluminous,  6;  calcareous,  1  ;  vegeta- 
ble earth,  [humus]  1 ;  in  all,  10  parts.  Good  soil — silicious,  3  parts  ; 
aluminous,  4;  calcareous,  2£;  vegetable  earth,  i  of  1  part;  in  all,  10 
parts.  Middling  soil  [sol  mediocre ;~\  silicious,  4  parts;  aluminous,  1;  cal- 
careous, 5  parts,  less  by  some  atoms  of  vegetable  earth  ;  in  all,  10  parts. 
We  see  that  it  is  the  largest  proportion  of  aluminous  earth  that  constitutes 
the  greatest  excellence  of  soils;  and  we  know  that  independently  of  their 
harmony  of  composition,  they  reqiiire  a  sufficiency  of  depth." — Translated 
from  the  article  "  Torres"  in  the  "Cours  Complct  d'Agriculture  Pratique, 
etc.  par  l'Abbe  Kozier,"  1810. 


52  CONCURRING   AMERICAN   AUTHORITIES. 

necessary  to  exhibit  them  would  show  what  had  not  been  said, 
rather  than  what  had — and  that  they  did  not  assert  the  absence  of 
calcareous  earth,  instead  of  direetly>isserting  its  universal  presence. 
Extracts  for  this  purpose,  however  satisfactory,  would  necessarily 
be  too  voluminous,  and  it  is  well  that  they  can  be  dispensed  with. 
Better  proof,  because  it  is  direct,  and  more  concise,  will  be  furnished 
by  quoting  the  opinions  of  a  few  agriculturists  of  our  own  country, 
who  were  extensively  acquainted  with  European  authors,  and  have 
evidently  drawn  their  opinions  from  those  sources.  These  quota- 
tions will  not  only  show  conclusively  that  their  authors  consider 
the  received  European  doctrine  to  be  that  all  soils  are  more  or  less 
calcareous — but  also,  that  they  apply  the  same  general  character  to 
the  soils  of  the  United  States,  without  expressing  a  doubt  or  naming 
an  exception.  These  writers,  as  all  who  have  heretofore  written 
of  soils  in  this  country,  have  uttered  but  the  echoes  of  preceding 
English  general  descriptions  of  soils.  They  seem  not  to  have  sus- 
pected that  any  very  important  difference  existed  in  this  respect 
between  the  soils  of  England  and  of  this  country ;  and  certainly  not 
one  had  made  the  slightest  investigation  by  any  attempt  at  chemical 
analysis,  to  sustain  the  false  character  thus  given  to  our  soils. 

1.  From  a  "Treatise  on  Agriculture"  (ascribed  to  General 
Armstrong),  published  in  the  American  Farmer.  [Vol.  i.  page 
153.] 

"Of  six  or  eight  substances,  which  chemists  have  denominated  earths, 
four  are  widely  and  abundantly  diffused,  and  form  the  crust  of  our  globe. 
These  are  silica,  alumina,  lime,  and  magnesia." — "In  a  pure  or  isolated 
state,  these  earths  are  wholly  unproductive :  but  when  decomposed  and 
mixed,  and  to  this  mixture  is  added  the  residuum  of  dead  animal  or  vege- 
table matter,  they  become  fertile,  and  take  the  general  name  of  soils,  and 
are  again  denominated  after  the  earth  that  most  abounds  in  their  composi- 
tion respectively." 

2.  Address  of  R.  H.  Rose  to  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Susque- 
hanna.     [Am.  For.   Vol.  ii.  p.  101.] 

"Geologists  suppose  our  earth  to  have  been  masses  of  rock  of  various 
kinds,  but  principally  silicious,  aluminous,  calcareous,  and  magnesian — 
from  the  gradual  attrition,  decay,  and  mixture  of  which,  together  with  an 
addition  of  vegetable  and  animal  matter,  is  formed  the  soil ;  and  this  is 
called  sandy,  clayey,  calcareous,  or  magnesian,  according  as  the  particular 
primitive  material  preponderates  in  its  formation." 

3.  Address  of  Robert  Smith  to  the  Maryland  Agricultural  So- 
ciety.    [Am.  Far.  V6L  iii.  jp.  228.] 

" The  soils  of  our  country  are  in  general  clay,  sand,  gravel,  clayey 

loam,  sandy  loam,  and  gravelly  loam.  Clay,  sand,  and  gravel,  need  no 
description,  &c." — "Clayey  loam  is  a  compound  soil,  consisting  of  clay 
and  sand  or  gravel,  with  a  mixture  of  calcareous  matter,  and  in  which  clay 
is  predominant.  Sandy  or  gravelly  loam  is  a  compound  soil,  consisting  of 
sand  or  gravel  and  clay  with  a  mixture  of  calcareous  matter,  and  in  which 
sand  or  gravel  is  predominant." 


CALCAREOUS   SOILS    SLTPOSED   COMMON.  53 

The  first  two  extracts  merely  state  the  geological  theory  of  the 
formation  of  soils,  which  is  received  as  correct  by  the  most  eminent 
agriculturists  of  Europe.  How  far  it  may  be  supported  or  opposed 
by  the  actual  constitution  and  number  of  ingredients  of  European 
soils,  is  not  for  me  to  decide,  nor  is  the  consideration  necessary  to 
my  subject.  But  the  adoption  of  this  general  theory  by  American 
writers,  without  excepting  American  soils,  is  an  indirect,  but  com- 
plete application  to  them  of  the  same  character  and  composition. 
The  writer  last  quoted  states  positively,  that  the  various  loams 
(which  comprise  at  least  nineteen  twentieths  of  our  soils,  and  I  pre- 
sume also  of  the  soils  of  Maryland)  contain  calcareous  matter. 
The  expression  of  this  opinion  by  Mr.  Smith  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  such  was  the  fair  and  plain  deduction  from  his  general  reading 
on  agriculture,  from  which  source  only  could  his  opinions  have  been 
derived.  If  the  soils  of  Maryland  are  not  very  unlike  those  of 
Virginia,  I  will  venture  to  assert,  that  not  one  in  a  thousand  of  all 
the  clayey,  sandy,  and  gravelly  loams,  contains  the  smallest  propor- 
tion of  carbonate  of  lime — and  that  not  a  single  specimen  of  cal- 
careous soil  can  be  found,  between  the  falls  of  the  rivers  and  the 
most  eastern  body  of  limestone. 

But  though  the  direct  testimony  of  European  authors,  as  cited 
in  a  foregoing  page,  concurs  with  the  indirect  proofs  referred  to 
since,  to  induce  the  belief  that  soils  arc  very  rarely  destitute  of  cal- 
careous earth,  yet  statements  may  be  found  of  some  particular  soils 
being  considered  of  that  character.  These  statements,  even  if 
presented  by  the  authors  of  general  treatises,  would  only  seem  to 
present  exceptions  to  their  general  rule  of  the  almost  universal 
diffusion  of  calcareous  earth  in  soils.  But,  so  far  as  I  know,  no 
such  exceptions  are  named  in  the  descriptions  of  soils  in  any  general 
treatise,  and  therefore  have  not  the  slightest  influence  in  contradict- 
ing or  modif}ring  their  testimony  on  this  subject.  It  is  in  the 
description  of  soils  of  particular  farms,  or  districts,  that  some  such 
statements  are  made ;  and  even  if  no  such  examples  had  been  men- 
tioned, they  would  not  have  been  needed  to  prove  the  existence,  in 
Europe,  of  some  soils,  like  most  of  ours,  destitute  of  calcareous 
earth.  These  facts  do  not  oppose  my  argument.  I  have  not 
asserted  '(nor  believed,  since  endeavouring  to  investigate  this  sub- 
ject), that  there  were  not  soils  in  Europe,  and  perhaps  many  exten- 
sive districts,  containing  no  calcareous  earth.  My  argument  merely 
maintains,  that  these  facts  would  not  be  inferred,  but  the  contrary, 
by  any  general  and  cursory  reader  of  the  agricultural  treatises  of 
Europe  with  which  we  are  best  acquainted.  It  has  not  been  my 
purpose  to  inquire  as  to  the  existence,  or  extent,  of  soils  of  this 
kind  in  Europe.  But  judging  from  the  indirect  testimony  furnished 
by  accounts  of  the  mineral  and  vegetable  productions,  in  general 
descriptions  of  different  countries,  I  would  infer  that  soils  having 
5* 


54  VIRGINIAN   SOILS   NOT   CALCAREOUS. 

no  calcareous  earth  were  often  found  in  Scotland  and  the  northern 
part  of  Germany,  and  that  they  were  comparatively  rare  in  England 
and  France. 

With  my  early  impressions  of  the  nature  and  composition  of 
soils,  derived  in  like  manner  from  the  general  descriptions  given  in 
hooks,  it  was  with  surprise,  and  some  distrust,  that,  when  first 
attempting  to  analyze  soils,  in  1817, 1  found  most  of  the  specimens 
entirely  destitute  of  calcareous  earth.  The  trials  were  repeated 
with  care  and  accuracy,  on  soils  from  various  places,  until  I  felt 
authorized  to  assert,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  no  naturally 
poor  soil,  below  the  falls  of  the  rivers,  contains  the  smallest  propor- 
tion of  calcareous  earth.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  any  exception  to 
this  peculiarity  of  constitution  can  be  found  in  any  poor  soil  above 
the  falls;  but  "though  these  soils  are  far  more  extensive  and  im- 
portant in  other  respects,  they  are  beyond  the  district  within  the 
limits  of  which  I  propose  to  confine  my  investigation. 

These  results  are  highly  important,  whether  considered  merely 
as  serving  to  establish  my  proposition,  or  as  showing  a  radical 
difference  between  most  of  our  soils,  and  those  of  the  best  cultivated 
parts  of  Europe.  Putting  aside  my  argument  to  establish  a  par- 
ticular theory  of  improvement,  the  ascertained  fact  of  the  universal 
absence  of  calcareous  earth  in  our  poor  soils  leads  to  this  conclusion, 
that  profitable  as  calcareous  manures  have  been  found  to  be  in 
countries  where  the  soils  are  generally  calcareous  in  some  degree, 
they  must  be  far  more  so  on  our  soils  that  are  cpiite  destitute  of 
that  necessary  earth.* 

[*  Since  the  first  and  even  the  last  edition  (1842)  containing  the  above 
deductions,  the  later  agricultural  chemists  have  removed  much  of  the  ob- 
seurity  before  resting  upon  the  calcareous  character  of  European  soils. 
Two  recent  European  works  have  been  republished  in  the  United  States, 
■which,  on  soils  and  calcareous  manures  especially,  are  more  full  and  satis- 
factory than  any  which  had  previously  reached  me.  One  is  Boussingault's 
"Rural  Economy,  in  its  relations  with  Chemistry,  &c.,&c."  This  volume 
was  first  published  in  this  country  in  1845  (by  Appleton,  &  Co.,  N.  Y.),  from 
the  English  translation  and  first  edition.  There  is  no  date  given  to  show 
the  time  of  publication  of  the  original  work  in  French,  nor  of  the  English 
translation.  But  both  were  manifestly  very  recent:  and  probably  neither 
had  been  introduced  or  was  accessible  in  this  country  before  the  American 
edition  appeared.  As  there  is  contained  a  reference  to  analyses  of  all  the 
crops  made  in  1841  on  the  author's  farm,  in  which  '-long  and  tedious 
labour"  he  "spent,  nearly  a  whole  year,"  the  original  work  could  not  have 
been  printed  before  the  close  of  1842,  even  if  so  early.  The  author,  be- 
sides being  one  of  the  most  profound  and  able  of  modern  chemists,  and 
who  has  directed  much  research  to  agricultural  chemistry,  was  also  a  prac- 
tical farmer,  on  a  scale  of  operations  sufficient  to  inform  him  how  to  pro- 
perly direct  his  scientific  investigations.  Therefore,  many  of  his  Bubjecta 
and  reported  results  are  lull  of  instruction,  ami  doubtless  are  to  be  relied 
on  as  among  the  latest  and  most  certain  lights  and  truths  yet  derived  from 
applying  chemistry  to  agriculture.     The  other  work  referred  to  above  is 


CHAPTER  V. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  EXAMINATIONS  OF  VARIOUS  SOILS. 

Proposition  2  — continued. 

The  certaint}"-  of  any  results  of  chemical  analysis  would  be 
doubted  by  most  persons  who  have  paid  no  attention  to  the  means 
employed  for  such  operations;  and  their  incredulity  will  be  the 
more  excusable,  when  such  results  are  reported  by  one  knowing 
very  little  of  the  science  of  chemistry,  and  whose  limited  know- 
ledge  was  gained  without  aid  or  instruction,  and  was  sought  solely 
with  the  view  of  pursuing  this  investigation.  Appearing  under 
such  disadvantages,  it  is  therefore  the  more  incumbent  on  me  to 
show  my  claim  to  accuracy,  or  to  so  explain  my  method  as  to  ena- 

Jolmston's  "Lectures  on  the  Applications  of  Chemistry  and  Geology  to 
Agriculture,"  which  was  first  published,  complete  in  four  parts,  in  London 
in  1844.  But  as  the  earlier  parts  had  been  published  in  succession,  I  had 
been  able  to  see  the  first  three  at  the  close  of  1843.  The  third  part  con- 
tains the  author's  views  and  compilation  of  facts,  chemical  and  agricultural, 
of  lime,  as  a  constituent  of  soils  and  as  manure.  On  these  subjects,  he  is 
more  full  of  information  than  any  or  all  preceding  authors,  because  able  to 
draw  from,  compare,  and  decide  upon  the  views  of  all  his  predecessors, 
with  the  aid  of  the  latest  information  as  to  European  scientific  research 
and  agricultural  practices  and  results — and  which  advantages  seem  to  have 
boon  need  generally  with  ability  and  discretion. 

li  appears  from  both  Boussingault's  and  Johnston's  woi^cs,  that  the  new 
and  still  very  defective  science  of  agricultural  chemistry  no  longer  labours 
under  some  of  the  grossest  defects  and  errors  which  were  indirectly  and 
justly  charged  in  my  remarks  above;  or  is  liable  to  the  formerly  just 
censure  there  indicated,  as  will  appear  in  the  course  of  this  essay.  It  is  not 
now  left  to  bem  inferred,  as  before,  that  all  or  nearly  all  soils  of  England 
and  France  contain  carbonate  of  lime;  and  the  errors  of  the  process  of 
analyzing  soils,  used  by  Davy,  and  all  other  chemists,  previous  to  a  very 
recent  time,  are  pointed  out,  which  errors  led  to  the  erroneous  conclusion 
that  carbonate  of  lime  is  almost  universally  present  in  soils.  These  two 
authors  state  many  particular  soils,  as  well  as  classes  of  soils  by  inference, 
which  contain  not  a  trace  of  lime  in  the  state  of  carbonate,  as  1  had  before 
declared,  in  opposition  to  all  the  then  existing  authority,  to  be  the  case 
with  nearly  all  the  soils  of  our  Atlantic  states.  But  still,  after  removing 
this  obscurity,  it  appears  manifest  from  the  many  reported  contents  of 
6oils  given  by  Bousdugault,  Johnston,  and  Liebig,  that  soils  "containing 
carbonate  of  lime,  and  usually  in  large  proportions,  are  very  general  in 
Europe,  so  far  as  investigation  has  gone;  in  this  respect  confirming  my 
own  previous  inferences,  as  stated  above. 

Some  of  the  statements  of  these  latest  and  ablest  authorities,  which  now 
ofi'er  confirmatory  testimony  for  my  formerly  unsupported  and  novel 
opinions,  will  be  quoted  in  notes,  or  otherwise,  on  proper  occasions. — 1840.] 

(55) 


50  MODE   OF   TESTING   THE   TRESEXCE    OF   CALX. 

ble  others  to  detect  its  errors,  if  any  exist.  To  analyze  a  specimen 
of  soil  completely,  requires  an  amount  of  scientific  acquirement 
and  practical  skill  to  which  I  make  no  pretension.  But  merely  to 
ascertain  the  absence  of  calcareous  earth  (or  carbonate  of  lime), 
or,  if  present,  to  find  its  quantity,  requires  but  little  skill,  and  less 
science. 

'"*  The  methods  recommended  by  different  agricultural  chemists  for 
ascertaining  the  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  in  all  soils,  agree  in 
all  material  points.  Their  process  will  be  described,  and  made  as 
plain  as  possible.  A  specimen  of  soil  of  convenient  size  is  dried, 
pounded,  and  weighed,  and  then  thrown  into  muriatic  acid  diluted 
with  three  or  four  times  its  quantity  of  water.  The  acid  combines  with, 
and  dissolves  the  lime  of  the  calcareous  earth,  and  its  other  ingre- 
dient, the  carrion  ic  acid,  being  disengaged,  rises  through  the  liquid 
in  the  form  of  gas,  or  air,  and  escapes  with  effervescence.  After 
the  mixture  has  been  well  stirred,  and  has  stood  until  all  effer- 
nce  is  over  (the  fluid  still  being  somewhat  acid  to  the  taste,  to 
prove  that  enough  acid  had  been  used,  by  some  excess  being  left), 
the  whole  is  poured  into  a  piece  of  blotting  paper,  folded  so  as  to 
it  within  a  glass  funnel.  The  fluid  containing  the  dissolved  lime 
passes  through  the  paper,  leaving  behind  the  clay  and  silicious 
sand,  and  any  other  solid  matter ;  over  which,  pure  water  is  poured 
and  passed  off  several  times,  so  as  to  wash  off  all  remains  of  the 
dissolved  lime.  These  filtered  washings  are  added  to  the  solution, 
to  all  of  which  is  then  poured  a  solution  of  carbonate  of  potash. 
The  two  dissolved  salts  thus  thrown  together  (muriate  of  lime, 
composed  of  muriatic  acid  and  lime,  and  carbonate  of  potash,  com- 
1  of  carbonic  acid  and  potash),  immediately  decompose  each 
other,  and  form  two  new  combinations.  The  muriatic  acid  leaves 
the  lime,  and  combines  with  the  potash,  for  which  it  has  a  stronger 
attraction — and  the  muriate  of  potash  thus  formed,  being  a  soluble 
salt,  remains  dissolved  and  invisible  in  the  water.  The  lime  and 
carbonic  acid  being  in  contact,  when  let  loose  by  their  former  part- 
ners, instantly  unite,  and  form  carbonate  of  lime,  or  calcareous 
earth,  which,  being  insoluble,  falls  to  the  bottom.  This  precipitate 
is  then  separated  by  filtering  paper,  is  washed,  dried  and  weighed, 
and-  thus  shows  the  proportion  of  carbonate  of  linie  contained  in 
the  soil.* 

In  this  process,  the  carbonic  acid  which  first  composed  part  of 

the  calcareous  earth,  escapes  into  the  air,  and  another  supply  is 

afterwards  furnished  from  the  decomposition  of  the  carbonate  of 

Lsh.     But  this  change  of  one  of  its  ingredients  does  not  alter 

the  quantity  of  the  calcareous  earth,  which  is  always  composed  of 

*  More  full  directions  for  the  analysis  of  soils  may  be  found  in  Kirwan's 
Essay  on  Manures,  Rozier's  Cours  Complet,  fcc,  and  Davy's  Agricultural 
Chemistry. 


TESTING   THE   PRESENCE   OF   CALX.  57 

certain  invariable  proportions  of  its  two  component  parts ;  and 
when  all  the  lime  has  been  precipitated  as  above  directed,  it  will 
necessarily  be  combined  with  precisely  its  first  quantity  of  carbonic 
acid. 

This  operation  is  so  simple,  and  the  means  for  conducting  it  so 
easy  to  obtain,  that  it  will  generally  be  the  most  convenient  mode 
for  finding  the  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  in  those  manures 
that  are  known  to  contain  it  abundantly,  and  where  an  error  of  a 
few  grains  cannot  be  very  material.  But  if  a  very  accurate  result 
is  necessary,  this  method  will  not  serve,  on  account  of  several 
causes  of  error  which  always  occur.  Should  no  calcareous  earth  be 
present  in  a  soil  thus  analyzed,  the  muriatic  acid  will  take  up  a 
small  quantity  of  aluminous  earth,  which  will  be  precipitated  by 
the  carbonate  of  potash,  and  without  further  investigation,  would 
be  considered  as  so  much  calcareous  earth.  And  if  any  compounds 
of  lime  and  vegetable  acids  are  present  (which,  for  reasons  hereafter 
to  be  stated,  I  believe  to  be  not  uncommon  in  soils),  some  portion 
of  these  may  be  dissolved,  and  appear  in  the  result  as  carbonate  of 
lime,  though  not  an  atom  of  that  substance  was  in  the  soil.  Thus, 
every  soil  examined  by  this  method  of  solution  and  precipitation 
will  yield  some  small  result  of  what  would  appear  as  carbonate  of 
lime,  though  actually  destitute  of  that  ingredient.  The  inaccura- 
cies of  this  method  were  no  doubt  known  (though  passed  over 
without  notice)  by  Davy,  and  other  men  of  science  who  have 
recommended  its  use ;  but  as  they  considered  calcareous  earth 
merely  as  one  of  the  earthy  ingredients  of  soil,  operating  me- 
chanically (as  do  sand  and  clay),  on  the  texture  of  the  soil,  they 
would  scarcely  suppose  that  a  difference  of  a  grain  or  two  could 
materially  affect  the  practical  value  of  an  analysis,  or  the  character 
of  the  soil  under  examination.* 

The  pneumatic  apparatus  proposed  by  Davy,  as  another  means 
for  showing  the  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  in  soils,  is  liable  to 
none  of  these  objections;  and  when  some  other  causes  of  error, 
peculiar  to  this  method,  are  known  and  guarded  against,  its  accu- 
racy is  almost  perfect,  in  ascertaining  the  quantity  of  calcareous 
earth — to  which  substance  alone  its  use  is  limited. 

*  "Chalks,  calcareous  marls,  or  powdered  limestone,  act  merely  by  form- 
ing a  useful  earthy  ingredient  in  the  soil,  and  their  efficacy  is  proportioned 
to  the  deficiency  of  calcareous  matter,  which  in  larger  or  smaller  quantities 
seems  to  be  an  essential  ingredient  of  all  fertile  soils;  necessary  perhaps  to 
their  proper  texture,  and  as  an  ingredient  in  the  organs  of  plants."  [Da- 
vy's Agr.  Cbem.  page  21 — and  further  on  he  says]  "Chalk  and  marl  or 
carbonate  of  lime  only  improve  the  texture  of  a  soil,  or  its  relation  to  absorp- 
tion ;  it  acts  merely  as  one  of  its  earthy  ingredients."  [It  is  evident,  from  these 
expressions,  that  Davy  considered  calcareous  earth  important  only  as  a 
physical  constituent  of  soils ;  and  it  does  not  appear  that  he  had  any  con- 
ception of  its  far  more  important  and  useful  service,  in  very  minute  pro- 
portions, as  a  chemical  agent,  essential  to  fertilization.] 


58 


BY   PNEUMATIC   APPARATUS. 


The  following  representation  and  description  will  make  the  ope- 
ration quite  clear : 


"  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  represent  the  different  parts  of  tins  apparatus.  A  repre- 
sents the  bottle  for  receiving  the  soil.  13  the  bottle  containing  the  acid, 
furnished  -with  a  stop-cock.  C  the  tube  connected  with  a  flaccid  bladder. 
D  the  graduated  measure.  E  the  bottle  for  containing  the  bladder.  "When 
this  instrument  is  used,  a  given  quantity  of  soil  is  introduced  into  A.  B 
is  filled  with  muriatic  acid  diluted  with  an  equal  quantity  of  water  ;  and 
the  stop-cock  being  closed,  is  connected  with  the  upper  orifice  of  A,  which 
is  ground  to  receive  it.  The  tube  C  is  introduced  into  the  lower  orifice  of 
A,  and  the  bladder  connected  with  it  placed  in  its  flaccid  state  into  Ex 
which  is  filled  with  water.  The  graduated  measure  is  placed  under  the 
tube  of  E.  AVhen  the  stop-cock  of  B  is  turned,  the  acid  flows  into  A,  and 
acts  upon  the  soil ;  the  elastic  fluid  generated  passes  through  C,  into  th© 
bladder,  and  displaces  a  quantity  of  water  in  E  equal  to  it  in  bulk,  and 
this  water  flows  through  the  tube  into  the  graduated  measure ;  and  gives 
by  its  volume  the  indication  of  the  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  disengaged 
from  the  soil ;  for  every  ounce  measure  of  which  two  grains  of  carbonate 
of  lime  may  be  estimated." — Davy's  Agr.  Chem. 

The  correctness  of  this  mode  of  analysis  depends  on  two  well- 
estahlished  facts  in  chemistry  :  1st,  That  the  component  parts  of 
calcareous  earth  always  bear  the  same  proportion  to  each  other,  and 
these  proportions  are  as  43.7  parts  (by  weight)  of  carbonic  acid,  to 
56.3  of  lime;  and,  2d,  That  the  carbonic  acid  gas  which  two  grains 
of  calcareous  earth  will  yield,  is  equal  in  bulk  to  one  ounce  of  fresh 
water.  The  process,  with  the  aid  of  this  apparatus,  disengages, 
confines,  and  measures  the  gas  evolved ;  and  for  every  measure 
equal  to  the  bulk  of  an  ounce  of  water,  the  operator  has  but  to 
allow  two  grains  of  calcareous  earth  in  the  soil  acted  on.  It  is 
evident  that  the  result  can  indicate  the  presence  of  lime  in  no  other 
combination  except  that  which  forms  calcareous  earth  \  nor  of  any 


CALCAREOUS   SOILS.  59 

other  earth,  except  carbonate  of  magnesia,  which,  if  present,  might 
be  mistaken  for  calcareous  earth,  but  which  is  too  rare,  and  oecurs 
in  proportions  too  small,  to  cause  any  material  error  in  ordinary 
cases,  and  in  soils  of  this  region. 

But  if  it  be  only  desired  to  know  whether  calcareous  earth  is 
entirely  wanting  in  any  soil — or  to  test  the  truth  of  my  assertion 
that  so  great  a  proportion  of  our  soils  are  destitute  of  that  earth 
— it  may  be  done  with  far  more  ease  than  by  either  of  the  forego- 
ing methods,  and  without  apparatus  of  any  kind.  Let  a  handful 
of  the  soil  (without  drying  or  weighing)  be  thrown  into  a  large 
drinking-glass,  containing  enough  of  pure  water  to  cover  the  soil 
about  two  inches.  Stir  it  until  all  the  lumps  have  disappeared, 
and  the  water  has  certainly  taken  the  place  of  all  the  atmospheric 
air  which  the  soil  had  enclosed.  Remove  any  vegetable  fibres,  or 
froth,  from  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  so  as  to  have  it  clear.  Then 
pour  in  gently  about  a  table  spoonful  of  undiluted  muriatic  acid, 
which  by  its  greater  weight  will  sink,  and  penetrate  the  soil,  with- 
out any  agitation  being  necessary  for  that  purpose.  If  any  calca- 
reous earth  is  present,  it  will  quickly  begin  to  combine  with  the 
acid,  throwing  off  its  carbonic  acid  in  gas,  which  cannot  fail  to  be 
observed  as  it  escapes,  as  the  gas  that  eight  grains  only  of  calca- 
reous earth  would  throw  out,  would  be  equal  in  bulk  to  a  gill 
measure.  Indeed,  the  product  of  a  single  grain  only  of  calcareous 
earth  would  be  abundantly  plain  to  the  eye  of  the  careful  operator, 
though  it  might  be  the  whole  amount  of  gas  from  two  thousand 
grains  of  soil.  If  no  effervescence  is  seen  even  after  adding  more 
acid  and  gently  stirring  the  mixture,  then  it  is  absolutely  certain 
that  the  soil  contained  not  the  smallest  portion  of  carbonate  of 
lime ;  nor  of  carbonate  of  magnesia,  the  only  other  substance  which 
could  possibly  be  mistaken  for  it. 

The  examinations  of  all  the  soils  that  will  be  here  mentioned  were 
made  in  this  pneumatic  apparatus,  except  some  of  those  which  evi- 
dently evolved  no  gas,  and  when  no  other  result  was  required.  As 
calcareous  earth  is  plainly  visible  to  the  eye  in  all  shelly  soils,  they 
only  need  examination  to  ascertain  its  proportion.  A  few  examples 
will  show  what  proportions  we  may  find,  and  how  greatly  they 
vary,  even  in  soils  apparently  of  equal  value. 

1.  Soil,  a  black  clayey  loam,  from  the  top  of  the  high  knoll  at 
the  end  of  Coggins  Point  [then  my  own  farm],  on  James  River,  con- 
taining fragments  of  mussel  shells  throughout.  Never  manured, 
and  supposed  to  have  been  under  scourging  cultivation  and  close 
grazing  from  the  first  settlement  of  the  country;  then  (1818)  ca- 
pable of  producing  twenty-five  or  thirty  bushels  of  corn — and  the 
soil  well  suited  to  wheat.  One  thousand  grains,  cleared  by  a  fine 
sieve  of  all  coarse  shelly  matter  (as  none  can  act  on  the  soil  until 
minutely  divided),  yielded  sixteen  ounce  measures  of  carbonic  acid 


60  CALCAEEOUS   SOILS. 

gas,  which  showed  the  finely  divided  calcareous  earth  to  be  thirty- 
two  grains. 

2.  One  thousand  grains  of  similar  soil  from  another  part  of  the 
same  field,  treated  in  the  same  manner,  gave  twenty-four  grains  of 
finely  divided  calcareous  earth. 

3.  From  the  east  end  of  a  small  island,  at  the  end  of  Coggins 
Point,  surrounded  by  the  river  and  tide  marsh.  Soil,  dark  brown 
loam,  much  lighter  than  the  preceding  specimens,  though  not 
sandy — under  like  exhausting  cultivation — then  capable  of  bring- 
ing thirty  to  thirty-five  bushels  of  corn — not  a  good  wheat  soil, 
ten  or  twelve  bushels  being  probably  a  full  crop.  One  thousand 
grains  yielded  eight  grains  of  coarse  shelly  matter,  and  eighty-two 
of  finely  divided  calcareous  earth. 

4.  From  a  small  spot  of  sandy  soil,  almost  bare  of  vegetation, 
and  incapable  of  producing  any  grain,  though  in  the  midst  of  very 
rich  land,  and  cleared  but  a  few  years.  Some  small  fragments  of 
fossil  sea-shells  being  visible,  proved  this  barren  spot  to  be  calca- 
reous, which  induced  its  examination.  Four  hundred  grains  yielded 
eighty-seven  of  calcareous  earth — nearly  twenty-two  per  cent. 
This  super-calcareous  soil  was  afterwards  dug  and  carried  out  as 
manure.  [It  is,  in  fact,  the  upper  layer  of  a  bed  of  fossil-shell 
earth,  the  shells  there  being  entirely  disintegrated  and  invisible. } 

5.  Black  friable  loam,  from  Indian  Fields,  on  York  River.  The 
soil  was  a  specimen  of  a  field  of  considerable  extent,  mixed  through- 
out with  oyster  shells.  Though  light  and  mellow,  the  soil  did  not 
appear  to  be  sandy.  Eich,  durable,  and  long  under  exhausting 
cultivation. 

1260  grains  of  soil  yielded 
168     —     of  coarse  shelly  matter,  separated  mechanically, 
8     —     finely  divided  calcareous  earth. 
The  remaining  solid  matter,  carefully  separated  (by  agitation  and 
settling  in  water),  consisted  of 
180  grains  of  fine  clay,  black  with  putrescent  matter,  and  which 
lost  more  than  one-fourth  of  its  weight  by  being  ex- 
posed to  a  red  heat, 
875     —     white  sand,  moderately  fine, 
20     —     very  fine  sand, 
30     —    lost  in  the  process. 

1061 

6.  Oyster  shell  soil,  of  the  best  quality,  from  the  farm  of  Wills 
Cowper,  Esq.,  on  Nansemond  River — never  manured,  and  supposed 
to  have  been  cultivated  in  corn  as  often  as  three  years  in  four,  since 
the  first  settlement  of  the  country — now  yields  (by  actual  mea- 
surement) thirty  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre — but  is  very  unproduc- 


ALL  TOOR   SOILS   NOT   CALCAREOUS.  Gl 

tive  in  wheat.     A  specimen  taken  from  the  surface,  to  the  depth 
of  six  inches,  weighed  altogether 
242  dwt.,  which  consisted  of 

126    —    of  shells  and  their  fragments,  separated  by  the  sieve, 
116    —    remaining  finely  divided  soil. 
Of  the  finely  divided  part,  500  grains  consisted  of 

18  grains  of  carbonate  of  lime, 
330     —    silicious  sand — none  very  coarse, 

94     —    impalpable  aluminous  and  silicious  earth, 

35     —    putrescent  vegetable  matter — none  coarse  or  unrottcd, 

23     —    loss. 

500 

It  is  unnecessary  to  cite  any  particular  trials  of  our  poor  soils, 
as  it  has  been  stated,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that  all  are  entirely 
destitute  of  calcareous  earth — excluding  the  rare,  but  well  marked 
exceptions  of  its  great  excess,  of  which  an  example  has  been  given 
in  the  soil  marked  4,  in  the  foregoing  examinations. 

Unless  then  I  am  mistaken  in  supposing  that  these  facts  are 
universally  true,  the  certain  results  of  chemical  analysis,  as  well 
as  more  extended  general  observation,  completely  establish  these 
general  rules — viz.  : 

1st.  That  all  calcareous  soils  are  naturally  fertile  and  durable 
in  a  very  high  degree — and, 

Id.  That  all  soils  naturally  poor  are  entirely  destitute  of  calca- 
reous earth. 

It  then  can  scarcely  be  denied  that  calcareous  earth  must  be  the 
cause  of  the  fertility  of  the  one  class  of  soils,  and  that  the  want 
of  it  produces  the  poverty  of  the  other.  Qualities  that  always 
thus  accompany  each  other  cannot  be  otherwise  than  cause  and  effect. 
If  further  proof  is  wanting,  it  can  be  safely  promised  to  be  fur- 
nished when  the  practical  application  of  calcareous  manures  to 
poor  soils  will  be  treated  of,  and  the  effects  stated. 

These  deductions  are  then  established  as  to  all  calcareous  soils, 
and  all  poor  soils — which  two  classes  comprise  nine-tenths  of  all. 
This  alone  would  open  a  wide  field  for  the  practical  exercise  of  the 
truths  we  have  reached.  But  still  there  remain  strong  objections 
and  stubborn  facts  opposed  to  the  complete  proof  and  universal 
application  of  the  proposition  now  under  consideration,  and  conse- 
quently to  the  theory  which  that  proposition  is  intended  to  support. 
The  whole  difficulty  will  be  apparent  at  once  when  I  now  proceed 
to  state  that  nearly  all  of  our  best  soils,  such  as  are  very  little  if 
at  all  inferior  in  value  to  the  small  portion  of  shelly  lands,  arc  as 
destitute  of  calcareous  earth  (carbonate  of  lime)  as  the  poorest.  So 
far  as  I  have  examined,  this  deficiency  is  no  less  general  in  the 
6 


C2  MANY   RICH   SOILS   NOT   CALCAU7. 

richest  alluvial  lands  of  the  upper  country — and,  what  will  he 
deemed  by  some  as  incredible,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  rich 
limestone  soils  between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  Alleghany  Mountains 
are  equally  destitute  of  calcareous  earth.  These  facts  were  not 
named  before,  to  avoid  embarrassing  the  discus-ion  of  other  points 
— nor  can  they  now  be  explained,  and  reconciled  with  my  proposi- 
tion, except  through  a  circuitous  and  apparently  digressive  course 
of  reasoning.  They  have  not  been  kept  out  of  view,  nor  slurred 
over,  to  weaken  their  force,  and  are  now  presented  in  all  their 
strength.  These  difficulties  will  be  considered,  and  removed,  in 
the  following  chapters. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION"  OF  BICII  SOILS   CONTAINING  NO  CALCA- 
REOUS EARTH. 

Proposition  2 — continued. 

Under  common  circumstances,  when  any  disputant  admits  facts 
that  seem  to  contradict  his  own  reasoning,  such  admission  is 
deemed  abundant  evidence  of  their  existence.  But  though  now 
placed  exactly  in  this  situation,  the  facts  admitted  by  me  are  so 
opposed  to  all  that  scientific  agriculturists  have  taught  us  to  expect, 
that  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  show  the  grouuds  on  which  my  ad- 
mission rests.  Few  would  have  believed  in  the  absence  of  calca- 
reous earth  in  all  our  poor  soils,  forming  as  they  do  the  much 
larger  part  of  all  this  region — and  far  more  strange  is  it  that  the 
same  deficiency  should  extend  to  such  rich  soils  as  some  that  will 
be  here  cited. 

The  following  specimens,  taken  from  well  known  and  verj-  fertile 
soils,  were  found  to  contain  no  calcareous  earth.  Many  trials  of 
other  rich  soils  have  yielded  like  results — and,  indeed,  I  have 
never  found  calcareous  earth  in  any  soil  below  the  falls  of  the 
rivers,  in  which,  or  near  which,  some  particles  of  shells  were  not 
visible. 

1.  Soil  from  Eppcs'  Island,  which  lies  in  Powhatan,  or  James- 
river,  near  City  Point ',  light  and  friable  (but  not  sandy)  brown 
loam,  rich  and  durable.  The  surface  is  not  many  feet  above  the 
highest  tides,  and,  like  most  of  the  best  river  lands,  this  tract 
seems  to  have  been  formed  by  alluvion  many  ages  ago,  but  which 
may  he  termed  recent,  when  compared  to  the  general  formation  of 
the  tide-water  district. 


KKir   RIVER  AND   LIME-STONE   SOILS.  Q3 

2.  Black  silicious  loam  from  the  celebrated  lands  on  Back  river, 
near  Hampton. 

3.  Soil  from  rich  land  on  Pocoson-river,  York  county. 

4.  Black  clay  vegetable  soil,  from  a  fresh-water  tide  marsh  on 
James  river — formed  by  recent  alluvion. 

5.  Alluvial  soil  of  first-rate  fertility  above  the  falls  of  James 
river — dark  brown  clay  loam,  from  the  valuable  and  -extensive 
body  of  bottom  land  belonging  to  General  J.  II.  Cocke,  of  Flu- 
vanna. 

The  most  remarkable  facts  of  the  absence  of  calcareous  earth 
are  to  be  found  in  the  lime-stone  soils,  between  the  Blue  Ridge 
and  Alleghany  Mountains.  Of  these,  I  will  report  all  that  I  have 
examined ;  and  none  contained  any  calcareous  earth,  unless  when 
the  contrary  will  be  stated. 

Before  the  first  of  these  trials  was  made,  I  supposed  (as  proba- 
bly most  other  persons  do)  that  limestone  soil  was  necessarily 
calcareous,  and  in  a  high  degree.  It  is  difficult  to  get  rid  of  this 
impression  entirely — and  it  may  seem  a  contradiction  in  terms  to 
say  that  a  limestone  soil  is  not  calcareous.  This  I  cannot  avoid. 
I  must  take  the  term  limestone  soil  as  custom  has  already  fixed  it. 
But  it  should  not  be  extended  to  any  soils  except  those  which  are 
so  near  to  lime-stone  rock,  as  in  some  measure  to  be  thereby  affected 
in  their  qualities  and  value. 

1  to  6.  Lime-stone  soils  selected  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lex- 
ington, Virginia,  by  Professor  Graham,  with  the  view  of  enabling 
me  to  investigate  this  subject.  All  the  specimens  were  from  first- 
rate  soils,  except  one,  which  was  from  laud  of  inferior  value.  One 
of  the  specimens,  Mr.  Graham's  description  stated  to  be  "  taken 
from  a  piece  of  land  so  "rocky  [with  lime-stone]  as  to  be  unfit  for 
cultivation,  at  least  with  the  plough.  I  could  scarcely  select  a 
specimen  which  I  would  expect  to  be  more  strongly  impregnated 
with  calcareous  earth."  This  specimen,  by  two  separate  trials, 
yielded  only  one  grain  of  calcareous  earth,  from  one  thousand  of 
soil.  The  other  five  soils  contained  none.  The  same  result  was 
obtained  from 

7.  A  specimen  of  alluvial  land  on  North  river,  near  Lexington. 

8.  Brown  loam  from  the  Sweet  Spring  valley,  remarkable  for  its 
extraordinary  productiveness  and  durability.  It  is  of  alluvial  for- 
mation, and  before  it  was  drained,  must  have  been  often  covered 
and  saturated  by  the  Sweet  Spring  and  other  mineral  waters,  which 
hold  lime  in  solution.  [The  carbonate  of  lime  dissolved  in  these 
waters  is  so  abundant,  and  so  readily  parted  with,  that  it  is  depo- 
sited on  every  twig  that  is  exposed  therein,  forming  rapidly  grow- 
ing incrustations.]  The  surrounding  high  land  is  of  lime-stone 
soil.  Of  this  specimen,  taken  from  about  two  hundred  yards  be- 
low the  Sweet  Spring,  from  land  long  cultivated  every  year,  threo 


G4  LIME-.-TU.NE    SOILS. 

hundred  and  sixty  grains  yielded  not  a  particle  of  calcareous  earth. 
It  contained  an  unusually  large  proportion  of  oxide  of  iron,  though 
my  imperfect  means  enabled  me  to  separate  and  collect  only  eight 
grains,  the  process  evidently  wasting  several  more. 

About  a  mile  lower  down,  drains  were  then  making  (in  1826)  to 
reclaim  more  of  this  rich  valley  from  the  overflowing  waters. 
Another  specimen  was  taken  from  the  bottom  of  a  ditch  just 
opened,  eighteen  inches  below  the  surface.  It  was  a  black  loam, 
and  exhibited  to  the  eye  some  very  diminutive  fresh-water  spiral 
shells,  about  one-tenth  of  an  inch  in  length,  and  many  of  their 
broken  fragments.  This  gave,  from  two  hundred  grains,  seventy-four 
of  calcareous  earth.  But  this  cannot  fairly  be  placed  on  the  same 
footing  with  the  other  soils,  as  it  had  obviously  been  once  the  bot- 
tom of  a  stream,  or  lake,  and  the  collection  and  deposit  of  so  large 
and  unusual  a  proportion  of  calcareous  matter  seemed  to  be  of  ani- 
mal formation.  Both  these  specimens  were  selected  at  my  request 
by  one  of  our  best  farmers,  and  who  also  furnished  a  written 
description  of  the  soils,  and  their  situation. 

9.  "Wood-land,  west  of  Union,  Monroe  county.  Soil,  a  black 
clay  loam,  lyiug  on,  but  not  intermixed  at  the  surface  with  lime- 
stone rock.  Sub-soil,  yellowish  clay.  The  rock  at  this  place,  a 
foot  below  the  surface.  Principal  growth,  sugar  maple,  white  wal- 
nut, and  oak.  This  and  the  next  specimen  are  from  one  of  the 
richest  tracts  of  high  land  that  I  have  seen. 

10.  Soil  similar  to  the  last,  and  about  two  hundred  yards  distant. 
Here  the  lime-stone  showed  above  the  surface,  and  the  specimen 
was  taken  from  between  two  large  masses  of  fixed  rock,  and  about 
a  foot  distant  from  each. 

11.  Black  rich  soil,  from  wood-land  between  the  Hot  and  Warm 
Springs,  in  Bath  county.  The  specimen  was  part  of  what  was  in 
contact  with  a  mass  of  lime-stone. 

12.  Soil  from  the  western  foot  of  the  TTarm  Spring  mountain, 
on  a  gentle  slope  between  the  court-house  and  the  road,  and  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  Warm  Bath.  Rich  brown 
loam,  containing  many  small  pieces  of  lime-stone,  but  no  finely 
divided  calcareous  earth. 

13.  A  specimen  taken  two  or  three  hundred  yards  from  the  last, 
and  also  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  Soil,  a  rich  black  loam,  full 
of  small  fragments  of  lime-stone  of  different  sizes,  between  that 
of  a  nutmeg  and  small  shot.  The  land  had  never  been  broken  up 
for  cultivation.  One  thousand  grams  contained  two  hundred  and 
forty  grains  of  small  stone  or  gravel,  mostly  lime-stone,  separated 
mechanically,  and  sixty-nine  grains  of  finely  divided  calcareous 
earth. 

14.  Black  loamy  clay,  from  the  excellent  wheat  soil  adjoining 
the  town  of  Bedford,  in  Pennsylvania :  the  specimen  taken  from 


LIME-STONE   AND   ALLUVIAL   SOILS.  65 

■% 
beneath    and    in  contact  with  lime-stone.     One   thousand  grains 
yielded  less  than  one  grain  of  calcareous  earth. 

15.  A  specimen  from  within  a  few  yards  of  the  last,  but  not  in 
contact  with  lime-stone,  contained  no  calcareous  earth ;  neither  did 
the  red  clay  sub-soil,  sis  inches  below  the  surface. 

16.  Very  similar  soil,  but  much  deeper,  adjoining  the  principal 
street  of  Bedford — the  specimen  taken  from  eighteen  inches  below 
the  surface,  and  adjoining  a  mass  of  lime-stone.  A  very  small 
disengagement  of  gas  indicated  the  presence  of  calcareous  earth — 
but  certainly  less  than  one  grain  in  one  thousand,  and  perhaps  not 
half  that  quantity. 

17.  Alluvial  soil  on  the  Juniata,  adjoining  Bedford. 

18.  Alluvial  vegetable  soil  near  the  stream  flowing  from  all  the 
Saratoga  Mineral  Springs,  and  necessarily  often  covered  and  soaked 
by  those  waters,  and 

19.  Soil  taken  from  the  bed  of  the  same  stream — neither  con- 
tained any  portion  of  carbonate  of  lime. 

Thus  it  appears  that  of  these  nineteen  specimens  of  soils,  only 
four  contained  calcareous  earth,  and  three  of  these  four  in  exceed- 
ingly small  proportions.  It  should  be  remarked  that  all  these 
were  selected  from  situations  which,  from  their  proximity  to  calca- 
reous rock,  or  exposure  to  calcareous  waters,  were  supposed  most 
likely  to  present  highly  calcareous  soils.  If  five  hundred  speci- 
mens had  been  taken,  without  choice,  even  from  what  are  commonly 
called  lime-stone  soils  (merely  because  they  are  not  very  distant 
from  lime-stone  rock,  or  springs  of  lime-stone  water),  the  analysis 
of  that  whole  number  would  be  less  likely  to  show  calcareous 
earth,  than  the  foregoing  short  list.  I  therefore  feel  justified,  from 
my  own  few  examination^raud  unsupported  by  any  other  authority, 
to  pronounce  that  calcareous  earth  will  very  rarely  be  found  in  any 
soils  between  the  falls  of  our  rivers  and  the  navigable  western 
waters.*  In  a  few  specimens  of  some  of  the  best  soils  from  the 
borders  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributary  rivers,  I  have  since 
found  calcareous  earth  present  in  all — but  in  very  small  propor- 
tions, and  in  no  case  exceeding  two  per  cent. 

[When  the  total  deficiency  of  carbonate  of  lime,  in  nearly  all  the 
soils  of  Virginia,  was  first  asserted,  as  above,  in  the  earliest  publi- 
cation of  this   essay  (1821,  in  American  Farmer,  vol.  iii.),  the 

[*  Recent  Confirmatory  Testimony. — Still  more  strange  cases  of.  the  total 
absence  of  (carbonate  of)  lime  have  been  stated  recently  in  Johnston's 
Agricultural  Chemistry:  "  It  is  a  fact  which  will  strike  you  as  not  a  little 
remarkable  that  soils  which  rest  upon  chalk,  as  well  as  upon  other 
lime-stone  rocks,  even  at  the  depth  of  a  few  inches  only,  are  often,  and 
especially  when  in  a  state  of  nature,  so  destitute  of  lime,  that  not  a  parti- 
cle can  be  detected  in  them."  (p.  377.)  The  author  of  course  meant  the 
carbonate  of  lime. — 1849.] 
6* 


G6  PRAIRIE   SOILS   CALCAREOUS. 

proposition  was  so  entirely  new,  and  so  opposed  to  all  inferences 
from  authority  then  existing,  that  it  was  indispensably  necessary  to 
adduce  my  facts,  as  is  done  above,  to  sustain  the.otherwise  uusus- 
tained  doctrine.  And  such  support,  for  the  same  reason,  continued 
to  be  wanting  through  the  two  next  editions.  Now  (in  1S42)  the 
case  is  altogether  different.  The  fact  of  the  absence  of  carbonate 
of  lime,  as  generally  as  I  had  assumed,  through  the  eastern  or 
seaward  slope  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  in  Xew  England, 
has  been  confirmed  by  all  the  analyses  of  soils  which  have  been 
since  made  by  Professor  Hitchcock  and  other  accurate  scientific 
investigators 3  and  the  proposition,  however  untenable  or  incredible 
it  might  have  been  deemed  before,  is  now  universally  admitted,  and 
indeed  is  placed  beyond  cmestion  or  doubt,  as  an  important  feature 
in  the  chemical  constitution  of  soils. — 1842.] 

[The  only  soils  of  considerable  extent  of  surface  which,  from  the 
specimens  that  I  have  examined,  appear  to  be  highly  calcareous, 
and  to  agree  in  that  respect  with  many  European  soils,  are  from 
the  prairies,  those  lands  of  the  south-west  which,  whether  rich  or 
poor,  are  remarkable  for  being  destitute  of  trees,  and  covered  with 
grass,  so  as  to  form  natural  meadows.  The  examinations  were 
made  but  recently  (in  1834),  and  are  reported  because  presenting 
striking  exceptions  to  the  general  constitution  of  soils  in  this 
country. 

20.  Prairie  soil  of  the  most  productive  kind  in  Alabama;  a 
black  clay,  with  very  little  sand,  yet  so  far  from  being  stiff,  that  it 
becomes  too  light  by  cultivation.  This  kind  of  land  is  stated  by 
the  friend  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  specimens,  to  "  produce 
corn  and  oats  most  luxuriantly — and  also  cotton  for  two  or  three 
years  ;  but  after  that  time  cotton  is  subject  to  the  rust,  probably 
from  the  then  open  state  of  the  soil,  which  by  cultivation  has  by 
that  time  become  as  light  and  as  soft  as  a  bank  of  ashes."  One 
hundred  grains  of  the  specimen  contained  eight  of  carbonate  of 
lime.  All  this  prairie  land  in  Alabama  lies  on  a  substratum  of 
what  is  there  called  "  rotten  lime-stone"  (specimens  of  which  con- 
tained seventy-two  to  eighty-two  per  cent,  of  iinie),  and  which 
rises  to  the  surface  sometimes,  forming  the  "bald  prairies,"  a  sam- 
ple of  the  soil  of  which  (21)  contained  fifty-nine  per  cent,  of  car- 
bonate of  lime.  This  was  described  as  "  comparatively  poor — 
neither  trees  nor  bushes  grow  there,  and  only  grass  and  weeds  be- 
fore cultivation — corn  does  not  grow  well — small  grain  better — 
and  cotlon  soon  becomes  subject  to  the  rust."  The  excessive  pro- 
portion of  calcareous  earth  is  evidently  the  cause  of  its  barrenness. 
The  substratum  called  lime-stone  is  soft  enough  to  be  cut  easily 
and  smoothly  with  a  knife,  and  some  of  it  is  in  appearance  and 
texture  more  like  the  chalk  of  Europe,  than  any  other  earth  that 
I  have  seen  in  this  country. 


PRAIRIE    SOILS.  67 

22.  A  specimen  of  the  very  rich  "  cane  brake"  lands  in  Marengo 
county,  Alabama,  contained  sixteen  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
This  is  a  kind  of  prairie,  of  a  wetter  nature,  from  the  winter  rains 
not  being  able  to  run  off  from  the  level  surface,  nor  to  sink  through 
the  tenacious  clay  soil,  and  the  solid  stratum  of  lime-stone  below. 

23.  A  specimen  from  the  very  extensive  "Choctaw  Prairie"  in 
Mississippi,  of  celebrated  fertility,  yielded  thirteen  per  cent,  of 
carbonate  of  lime. 

Several  other  specimens  of  different,  but  all  of  very  fertile  soils 
from  southern  Alabama,  and  all  lying  over  the  substratum  of  .soft 
lime-stone, 'were  found  to  be  neutral,  containing  not  a  particle  of 
lime  in  the  form  of  carbonate.    These  specimens  were  as  follows  : 

24.  One  from  the  valley  cane  land — "  very  wet  through  the 
winter,  but  always  dry  in  summer — and  after  being  ditched  is  dry 
enough  to  be  cultivated  in  cotton,  which  will  grow  from  eight  to 
twelve  feet  high." 

25.  Another  from  what  is  called  the  best  "post-oak  land,"  on 
which  trees  of  that  kind  grow  to  the  size  of  from  two  to  four  feet 
in  diameter — having  but  little  underwood,  and  no  cane  growth — 
"  thought  to  be  nearly  as  rich  as  the  best  cane  land,  and  will  pro- 
duce 1500  lbs.,  or  more,  of  seed  cotton,  or  fifty  bushels  of  corn  to 
the  acre." 

26.  Another.from  what  is  termed  "  palmetto  land,  having  on  it 
that  plant  as  well  as  a  heavy  cover  of  large  trees  growing  luxuri- 
antly. It  is  a  cold  and  wet  soil  before  being  brought  into  good 
tilth  ;  but  afterwards  is  soft  and  easy  to  till,  and  produces  corn  and 
cotton  finely.  The  cane  on  it  is  generally  small — the  soil  from 
four  to  ten  feet  deep." 

One  more  prairie  soil  only  will  be  adduced,  from  many  analyses 
which  have  furnished  general  results  like  the  foregoing  (20  to  26)  ; 
and  this  one  is  given  because  it  serves  as  a  fair  specimen  of  a  very 
large  class  of  the  prairie  lands.  It  was  selected  by  Dr.  R.  W. 
Withers,  in  1835,  and  described  by  him  as  follows :  (Farmers' 
Register,  vol.  iii.  p.  498.) 

27.  Soil  of  Greene  county,  Alabama,  "  from  our  open  or  bald 
prairie,  [t.  e.,  totally  without  trees,]  which  has  been  cultivated  for 
seven  or  eight  years — produces  corn  very  well — nearly  fifty  bushels  to 
the  acre  are  now  standing  on  the  ground ;  but  cotton  does  not  pro- 
duce so  well  on  it  as  on  poor  sandy  soil.  I  feel  very  confident  that 
this  specimen  is  highly  calcareous,  as-there  are  many  fragments  of 
shells  mixed  with  the  soil,  and  the  rock  is  not  two  feet  from  the 
surface.  Of  all  the  specimens  hitherto  sent,  this  is  the  one  which 
will  give  the  nearest  approach  to  the  general  character  of  our  open 
prairie  laud  in  this  part  of  the  country." — This  specimen  was 
found  to  contain  33  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. — 1835.] 

The  foregoing  details,  respecting  lime-3tone  lands,  may  perhaps 


G8  LIME   ESSENTIAL   TO   FERTILE    SOIL. 

be  considered  an  unnecessary  digression,  in  a  treatise  on  the  soils 
of  the  tide-water  district.  But  the  analysis  of  liine-stone  soils 
furnishes  the  strongest  evidence  of  the  remarkable  and  novel  fact 
of  the  general  absence  of  calcareous  earth — and  the  information 
thence  derived  will  be  used  to  sustain  the  following  steps  of  my 
argument. 

All  the  examinations  of  soils  in  this  chapter  concur  in  opposing 
the  general  application  of  the  proposition  that  the  deficiency  of 
calcareous  earth  is  the  cause  of  the  sterility  of  our  soils.  And 
having  stated  the  objection  in  all  its  force,  I  shall  now  proceed  to 
inquire  into  its  causes,  and  endeavour  to  dispel  its  apparent  opposi- 
tion to  my  doctrine. 


CHAPTER   YII. 

PROOFS  OF  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  ACID  AND  NEUTRAL  SOILS. 

Proposition  2 — continued. 

Sufficient  evidence  has  been  adduced  to  prove  that  many  of  our 
most  fertile  and  valuable  soils  are  destitute  of  calcareous  earth. 
But  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  such  has  always  been  their 
composition ;  or  that  they  may  not  now  contain  enough  lime  com- 
bined with  some  other  acid  than  the  carbonic.  That  this  is  really 
the  case,  I  shall  now  offer  proofs  to  establish ;  and  not  only  main- 
tain this  position  with  regard  to  those  valuable  soils,  but  shall  con- 
tend, that  lime,  in  some  proportion,  combined  with  vegetable  cicid, 
is  present  in  ecery  soil  capable  of  supporting  vegetation. 

But,  while  I  shall  endeavour  to  maintain  these  positions,  without 
asking  or  even  admitting  any  exception,  let  me  not  be  understood 
as  assorting  that  the  degree  of  natural  fertility  of  a  calcareous  soil 
is  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  calcareous  earth  contained ;  or, 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  proportion  of  calcareous  earth,  or  of  lime 
in  an}-  form,  contained,  would  serve  to  measure  the  capacity  of  the 
soil  for  production  or  for  fertilization.  On  the  contrary,  chalky 
and  calcareous  soils,  not  differing  materially  in  agricultural  qualities 
or  fertility,  sometimes  exhibit  remarkable  differences  in  their  pro- 
portions of  calcareous  earth ;  so  that  one  soil,  having  less  than  one 
per  cent.,  may  seem  as  well  constituted  and  as  valuable  as  another 
having  ten  per  cent.,  or  more.  [The  reason  is,  that  a  very  small 
proportion  is  enough  for  the  full  chemical  action ;  and  that  any 
surplus,  even  if  not  hurtful  by  its  amount,  will  have  no  other  than 
the  comparatively  feeble  mechanical  action — which  may  even  be 
injurious,  and  in  opposition  to,  and  counteracted  by  the  chemical 
action.] 


ACID   AND   NEUTRAL   SOILS   DEFINED.  05) 

In  all  naturally  poor  soils,  producing  freely  pine  and  whortle- 
berry in  their  virgin  state,  and  shecp-sorrel  after  cultivation,  I  sup- 
pose to  have  been  formed  some  vegetable  acid,  which,  after  taking 
up,  and  combining  with  whatever  small  quantity  of  lime  might 
have  been  present,  still  remains  in  excess  in  the  soil,  and  nourishes 
in  the  highest  degree  the  plants  named  above,  but  is  a  poison  to  all 
useful  crops;  and  effectually  prevents  such  acid  soils  from  becom- 
ing rich,  by  either  natural  or  artificial  applications  of  putrescent 
manures. 

In  a  neutral  soil,  I  suppose  calcareous  earth  to  have  been  suffi- 
ciently abundant  at  some  former  time  to  induce  a  high  degree  of 
fertility — but  that  it  has  been  decomposed,  and  the  lime  taken  up, 
by  the  gradual  formation  of  vegetable  acid,  until  the  lime  and  the 
acid  neutralize  and  balance  each  other,  leaving  no  considerable  ex- 
cess of  either;  and  that  such  are  all  our  fertile  soils  which  are  not 
now  calcareous. 

Both  these  suppositions  remain  to  be  proved,  in  all  their  parts. 

No  opinion  has  been  yet  advanced  that  is  less  supported  by  good 
authority,  or  to  which  more  general  opposition  maybe  expected,  than 
that  which  supposes  the  existence  of  acid  soils.  The  term  sour  soil 
is  indeed  frecmently  used  by  farmers,  but  in  so  loose  a  manner  as 
to  deserve  no  consideration.  It  has  been  thus  applied  to  any  moist, 
cold,  and  ungrateful  land,  without  intending  that  the  term  should 
be  literally  understood,  and  perbaps  without  attaching  to  its  use 
any  precise  meaning  whatever.  Dundonald  only,  of  all  those 
who  have  applied  chemistry  to  agriculture,  has  asserted  the  exist- 
ence of  vegetable  acid  in  soils  :*  but  he  has  offered  no  analysis 
of  soils  in  proof,  nor  any  other  evidence  to  establish  the  fact ;  and 
his  opinion  has  received  no  confirmation,  nor  even  the  slightest  no- 
tice, from  later  and  more  able  investigators  of  the  chemical  cha- 
racters of  soils.  Kirwan  and  Davy  profess  to  enumerate  all  the 
common  ingredients  of  soils;  and  it  is  not  intimated  by  either 
that  vegetable  acid  is  one  of  them.  Even  this  tacit  denial  by 
Davy  more  strongly  opposes  the  existence  of  vegetable  acid,  than  it 
is  supported  by  the  opinion  of  Dundonald,  or  any  early  writers  on 
agriculture,  if  there  be  any  who  may  have  admitted  its  existence. 
[For  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  so  able  and  profound  an  investiga- 
tor would  have  omitted  all  reference  to  an  ingredient  of  soils  so 
general,  and  therefore  so  important,  as  is  here  asserted,  even  if  its 
presence  had  been  even  suspected  by  him,  much  less  if  fully  known.] 
Grisenthwaite,  a  late  writer  on  agricultural  chemistry,  and  who  has 
the  advantage  of  knowing  the  discoveries,  and  comparing  the 
opinions,  of  all  his  predecessors,  expressly  denies  the  possibility  of 
any  acid  existing  in  soils.     His  New  l  Theory  of  Agriculture' If  con- 

*  Dundonald's  Connexion  of  Chemistry  and  Agriculture, 
-j-  Republished  in  American  Farmer,  (old)  vol.  ii. 


70  CHEMICAL   AUTHORITY   OPPOSED   TO   ACID   SOIL. 

tains  the  following  passage  :  "  Chalk  has  been  reconiniemled  u  a 
substance  calculated  to  correct  the  sourness  of  land.  It  would 
surely  have  been  a  wise  practice  to  have  previously  ascertained  this 
existence  of  acid,  and  to  have  determined  its  nature,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  effectually  removed.  The  fact  really  is,  that  no  soil 
was  ever  yet  found  to  contain  any  notable  quantity  of  acid.  The 
acetic  and  the  carbonic  are  the  only  two  that  are  likely  to  be  gene- 
rated by  any  spontaneous  decomposition  of  animal  or  vegetable 
bodies,  and  neither  of  them  have  any  fixity  when  exposed  to  the 
air."  Thus,  then,  my  doctrine  is  deprived  of  even  the  feeble  sup- 
port it  might  have  had  from  Dundonald's  mere  opinion,  if  that 
opinion  had  not  been  contradicted  by  later  and  better  authority ; 
and  the  only  support  to  be  looked  for,  will  be  in  the  facts  and  argu- 
ments that  I  shall  be  able  to  adduce. 

I  am  not  prepared  to  question  what  Grisenthwaite  states  as  a 
chemical  fact,  "that  no  soil  was  ever  yet  found  to  contain  any 
notable  quantity  of  acid."  No  soil  examined  by  me  for  this  pur- 
pose, with  such  poor  means  as  I  could  apply,  gave  any  evidence  of 
the  presence  of  uncombined  acid.  Still,  however,  the  term  acid 
may  be  applied  with  propriety  to  soils  in  which  growing  vegetables 
continually  receive  acid  from  the  decomposition  of  others  (for  which 
no  "  fixity"  is  requisite),  or  in  which  acid  is  present,  not  free,  but 
combined  with  some  base,  by  which  it  is  readily  yielded,  to  promote, 
or  retard,  the  growth  of  plants  in  contact  with  it.  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient for  my  purpose  to  show  that  certain  soils  contain  some  sub- 
stance, or  possess  some  quality,  which  promotes  almost  exclusively 
the  growth  of  acid  plants — that  this  power  is  strengthened  by 
adding  known  vegetable  acids  to  the  soil — and  is  totally  removed 
by  the  application  of  calcareous  manures,  which  would  necessarily 
destroy  any  acid,  if  it  were  present.  Leaving  it  to  chemists  to 
determine  the  nature  and  properties  of  this  substance,  I  merely 
contend  for  its  existence  and  effects;  and  the  cause  of  these  effects, 
whatever  it  may  be,  for  the  want  of  a  better  name,  I  shall  call 
acidity. 

The  proofs  now  to  be  offered  in  support  of  the  existence  of  acid 
and  neutral  soils,  however  weak  each  may  be  when  considered  alone, 
yet,  when  taken  in  connexion,  will  together  form  a  body  of  evidence 
not  easily  to  be  resisted. 

First  proof. — Pines  and  common  sorrel  [rumex  acetocclla]  have 
leaves  well  known  to  be  acid  to  the  taste ;  and  their  growth  is  fa- 
voured by  such  soils  as  are  here  supposed  to  be  acid,  to  an  extent 
which  would  be  thought  remarkable  in  other  plants  on  the  richest 
soils.  Except  wild  locust  on  the  best  of  our  river  land,  no  growth 
can  compare  in  rapidity  with  pines  on  soils  naturally  ppor,  and 
even  when  greatly  reduced  by  long  cultivation.  Pines  usually 
stand  so  thick,  on  old  exhausted  fields,  that  the  increase  of  size  in 


PROOFS   OF   ACID   SOILS.  71 

each  plant  is  greatly  retarded ;  but  if  the  whole  growth  of  an  acre 
were  estimated,  it  would  probably  exceed  in  quantity  the  different 
growth  of  the  richest  soils,  of  the  same  age  and  on  an  equal  space. 
Every  cultivator  of  corn  on  poor  light  soil  knows  how  rapidly 
sorrel*  will  cover  his  otherwise  naked  field,  unless  kept  in  check  by 
continnal  tillage — and  that  to  root  it  out,  so  as  to  prevent  the  like 
future  labour,°cannot  be  effected  by  any  mode  of  cultivation  what- 
ever. This  weed  too  is  considered  far  more  hurtful  to  growing 
crops,  than  any  other  of  equal  size.  '  Yet  neither  of  these  acid 
plants  can  thrive  on  the  best  lands.  Sorrel  cannot  even  live  on  a 
calcareous  soil;  and  if  a  pine  is  sometimes  found  there,  it  has 
nothing  of  its  usual  elegant  form,  but  seems  as  stunted  and  ill- 
shapcd°as  if  it  had  always  suffered  for  want  of  nourishment.  In- 
numerable facts,  of  which  these  are  examples,  prove  that  these  acid 
plants  must  derive  from  their  favourite  soil  some  kind  of  food  pe- 
culiarly suited  to  their  growth,  and  quite  useless,  if  not  hurtful,  to 
cultivated  crops. 

*  2d.  Dead  acid  plants  are  the  most  effectual  in  promoting  the 
growth  of  living  ones.  When  pine  leaves  are  applied  to  a  soil, 
whatever  acid  they  contain  is  of  course  given  to  that  soil,  for  such 
time  as  circumstances 'permit  it  to  retain  its  form,  or  peculiar  pro- 
perties. Such  an  application  is  often  made  on  a  large  scale,  by 
cutting  down  th*e  second  growth  of  pines,  on  land  once  under  till- 
age, and  suffering  them  to  lie  a  year  before  clearing  and  cultivating 
the  land.  The  invariable  consequence  of  this  course  is  a  growth 
of  sorrel,  for  one  or  two  years,  so  abundant  and  so  injurious  to  the 
crops,  as  to  more  than  balance  any  benefit  derived  by  the  soil  from 
the  vegetable  matter  having  been  allowed  to  rot.  From  the  gene- 
ral experience  of  this  effect,  most  persons  put  pine  land  under 
tillage  as  soon  as  cut  down,  after  carefully  burning  (to  destroy)  the 
whole  of  the  heavy  cover  of  leaves,  both  green  and  dry.  Until 
within  a  few  years,  it  was  generally  supposed  that  the  leaves  of 
pine  were  worthless,  if  not  hurtful,  in  all  applications  to  cultivated 
lan(j — which  opinion  doubtless  was  founded  on  such  facts  as  have 
been  just  stated.  But  if  they  are  used  as  litter  for  cattle,  and  | 
heaped  to  ferment,  the  injurious  quality  of  pine  leaves  is  destroyed,  ) 
and  they  become  a  valuable  manure.  This  practice  is  but  of  recent 
origin — but  is  highly  approved,  and  rapidly  extending.  [Still 
later  it  has  been  found  that  when  these  leaves  are  applied  unrotted, 
as  raked  up  in  woodland,  to  calcareous  land,  they  produce  only  and 

*  Sheep  sorrel,  or  Rumex  acetocella.  The  -wood  sorrel  ( Oxalis  acetocella) 
is  of  a  very  different  character.  The  latter  prefers  rich  and  even  calcareous 
soils,  audi  have  seen  it  growing  well  on  spots  calcareous  to  excess.  It 
would  seem,  therefore,  that  wood  sorrel  forms  its  acid  from  the  atmosphere, 
and  does  not  draw  it  from  the  soil,  as  I  suppose  to  be  the  case  with  common 
sorrel.  [The  wood  sorrel  is  a  trefoil,  and  pod-bearing  or  leguminous 
plant.] 


,■2  PROOFS   OF   ACID    SOILS. 

alvra3-s  beneficial  results ;  and  that  this  is  the  best  as  well  as  cheap- 
est mode  of  their  application.] 

On  one  of  the  washed  and  barren  declivities  (or  gaSs)  which  arc 
so  numerous  on  all  our  farms,  I  had  the  small  gullies  packed  full 
of  green  pine  bushes,  and  then  covered  with  the  earth  drawn  from 
the  equally  barren  intervening  ridges,  so  as  nearly  to  smooth  the 
whole  surface.  The  whole  piece  had  borne  nothing  previously  ex- 
cept a  few  scattered  tufts  of  poverty  grass" (aristida  gracilis)  and 
dwarfish  sorrel,  all  of  which  did  not  prevent  the  spot  seeming  quite 
bare  at  mid-summer,  if  viewed  at  some  distance.  *  This  operation 
was  performed  in  February  or  March.  The  land  was  not  culti- 
vated, nor  again  observed,  until  the  second  summer  afterwards.  At 
that  time,  the  piece  remained  as  bare  as  formerly,  except  along  the 
filled  gullies,  which,  throughout  the  whole  of  their  crooked  courses, 
were  covered  by  a  thick  and  uncommonly  tall  growth  of  sorrel,  re- 
markably luxuriant  for  any  situation^  and  which,  being  bounded 
exactly  by  the  width  of  the  narrow  gullies,  had  the  appearance  of 
some  vegetable  sown  thickly  in  drills,  and  kept  clean  by  tillage. 
So  great  an  effect  of  this  kind  has  not  been  produced  within  my 
knowledge — though  facts  of  like  nature,  and  leading  to  the  same 
conclusion,  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  If  small  pines  standing 
thinly  over  a  broom-grass  old-field  are  cut  down  and  left  to  lie,  un- 
der every  top  will  be  found  a  patch  of  sorrel,  before'the  leaves  have 
all  rotted. 

3d.  The  growth  of  sorrel  is  not  only  peculiarly  favoured  by  the 
application  of  vegetables  containing  acids  already  formed,  but  also 
by  such  matters  as  will  form  acid  in  the  course  of  their  decomposi- 
tion. Farm-yard  manure,  and  all  other  putrescent  animal  and 
vegetable  substances,  form  acetic  acid  as  their  decomposition  pro- 
ceeds.* If  heaps  of  rotting  manure  are  left  without  being  spread, 
in  a  field  but  very  slightly  subject  to  produce  sorrel,  a  few  weeks 
of  growing  weather  will  bring  out  that  plant  close  around  every 
heap ;  and  for  some  time  the  sorrel  will  continue  to  show  more 
benefit  from  that  rank  manuring  than  any  other  grass.  For  several 
years  my  winter-made  manure  was  spread  and  ploughed  in  on  land 
not  cultivated  until  the  next  autumn,  or  the  spring  after.  This 
practice  was  founded  on  the  mistaken  opinion,  that  it  would  prevent 
much  of  the  usual  exposure  to  evaporation  and  waste  of  the  manure. 
One  of  the  reasons  which  alone  would  have  compelled  me  to  aban- 
don this  absurd  practice  was,  that  a  crop  of  sorrel  always  followed, 
(even  on  neutral  or  good  soils  that  before  barely  permitted  a  scanty 
growth  of  it  to  live),  which  so  injured  the  next  grain  crop  as 
greatly  to  lessen  the  benefit  from  the  mamire.  Sorrel  unnaturally 
produced  by  such  applications  does  not  infest  the  land  longer  than 

*  Agr.  Chem.  p.  1ST.     (PhiL  ed.) 


proofs  or  ACID  SOILS.  73 

uutil  we  may  suppose  the  recent  supply  of  acid  to  Lave  been  re- 
moved by  cultivation  and  other  causes. 

It  may  be  objected  that,  even  if  fully  admitted,  my  authorities 
prove  only  the  formation  of  a  single  vegetable  acid  in  soil,  the  acetic 
— that  my  facts  show  only  the  production  of  a  single  acid  plant, 
sorrel — and  that  the  acid  which  sorrel  contains  is  not  the  acetic, 
but  the  oxalic*  In  reply  to  such  objections,  it  may  be  said,  that 
from  the  application  of  acids  to  recently  ploughed  land,  no  acid 
plant  except  sorrel  is  made  to  grow,  because  that  one  only  can 
spring  up  speedily  enough  to  arrest  the  the  fleeting  nutriment.  Po- 
verty grass  (Aristitla  gracilis  or  A.  dichotoma)  grows  only  on  the 
same  kinds  of  soil,  and  generally  covers  them  after  they  have  been 
a  year  free  from  a  crop,  but  does  not  show  sooner ;  and  pines  re- 
quire two  years  before  their  seeds  will  produce  plants.  But  when 
pines  begin  to  spread  over  the  land,  they  soon  put  an  end  to  the 
growth  of  all  other  plants,  and  are  abundantly  supplied  with  their 
acid  food,  from  the  dropping  of  their  own  leaves.  Thus  they  may 
be  first  supplied  with  the  vegetable  acid  ready  formed  in  the 
leaves,  and  afterwards  with  the  acetic  acid,  formed  by  their  sub- 
sequent slow  decomposition.  It  does  not  weaken  my  argument, 
that  the  product  of  a  plant  is  a  vegetable  acid  different  from  the 
one  supposed  to  have  nourished  its  growth.  All  vegetable  acids 
(except  the  prussic),  however  different  in  their  properties,  are  com- 
posed of  the  same  three  elementary  bodies,  differing  only  in  their 
proportionsf — and  consequently  are  all  convertible  into  each  other. 
A  little  more,  or  a  little  less  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  ingre- 
dients, may  change  the  acetic  to  the  oxalic  acid,  and  that  to  any 
other.  We  cannot  doubt  but  that  such  simple  changes  may  be 
produced  by  the  chemical  powers  of  vegetation,  when  others  are 
effected  far  more  difficult  for  us  to  comprehend.  The  most  tender 
and  feeble  organs,  and  the  mildest  juices,  aided  by  the  power  of 
animal  or  vegetable  life,  are  able  to  produce  decompositions  and 
combiuations  which  the  chemist  cannot  explain,  and  which  he  would 
in  vain  attempt  to  imitate. 

4th.  This  ingredient  of  soils,  which  nourishes  acid  plants,  also 
poisons  cultivated  crops.  Plants  have  not  the  power  of  rejecting 
noxious  fluids,  but  take  up  by  their  roots  everything  presented  in  a 
soluble  form,  j  Thus  the  acid  also  enters  the  sap-vessels  of  culti- 
vated plants,  stints  their  growth,  and  makes  it  impossible  for  them 
to  attain  that  size  and  perfection  which  their  proper  food  would 
insure,  if  it  were  presented  to  them  without  its  poisonous  accom- 
paniment.    When  the  poorest  virgin  wood-land  is  cut  down,  it  is 

*  Agr.  Cliem.  Lecture  3. 

|  Carbon,  oxygen,  and  hydrogen.     Agr.  Chcm.  Lecture  ?,  p.  78. 
%  Agr.  (Jhenx.  Lecture  G,  page  18G. 
7 


74  PROOFS   OF   NEUTRAL   AXD   ACID   SOILS. 

covered  and  filled  to  excess  with  leaves  and  other  rotted  and  rotting 
vegetable  matters.  Can  a  heavier  vegetable  manuring  be  desired? 
And  as  this  completely  rots  during  cultivation,  must  it  not  offer  to 
the  growing  plants  as  abundant  a  supply  of  food  as  they  can  re- 
quire ?  Yet  the  best  product  obtained  may  be  from  ten  to  fifteen 
bushels  of  corn,  or  five  or  six  of  wheat,  soon  to  come  down  to  half 
those  quantities.  If  the  noxious  quality  which  causes  such  injury 
is  an  acid,  it  is  as  certain  as  any  chemical  truth  whatever,  that  it 
will  be  neutralized,  and  its  powers  destroyed,  by  applying  enough 
of  calcareous  earth  to  the  soil ;  and  precisely  such  effects  are  found 
wherever  that  remedy  is  tried.  On  laud  thus  relieved  of  this  un- 
ceasing annoyance,  the  young  plants  of  corn  no  longer  appear  of  a 
pale  and  sickly  green,  approaching  to  yellow,  but  take  immediately 
a  deep  healthy  colour,  by  which  they  may  readily  be  distinguished 
from  any  on  adjoining  ground,  left  in  its  former  state,  before  there 
is  any  perceptible  difference  in  the  size  of  the  plants.  The  crop 
will  produce  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent,  more,  the  first  year,  be- 
fore its  supply  of  food  can  possibly  have  been  increased  j  and  the 
soil  is  soon  found  not  only  clear  of  sorrel,  but  absolutely  incapable 
of  producing  it.  I  have  anticipated  these  effects  of  calcareous  ma- 
nures, before  furnishing  the  evidence ;  but  they  will  hereafter  be 
established  by  facts  beyond  contradiction. 

The  truth  of  the  existence  of  either  acid  or  neutral  soils  depends 
on  the  existence  of  the  other;  and  to  prove  either,  will  necessarily 
establish  both.  If  acid  exists  in  soils,  then  whenever  it  meets  with 
calcareous  earth,  the  two  substances  must  combine  with  and  neu- 
tralize each  other,  so  far  as  their  proportions  are  properly  adjusted. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  I  can  show  that  compounds  of  lime  and  vege- 
table acid  are  present  in  most  soils,  it  follows  inevitably  that  nature 
has  provided  means  by  which  soils  can  generally  obtain  this  acid ; 
and  if  the  amount  formed  can  balance  the  lime,  the  operation  of 
the  same  causes  can  exceed  that  quantity,  and  leave  an  excess  of 
free  acid.  From  these  premises  will  be  deduced  the  following 
proofs. 

5th.  It  has  been  stated  (page  57)  that  the  process  recommended 
by  chemists  for  finding  the  calcareous  earth  in  soils  was  unfit  for 
that  purpose,  because  some  precipitate  was  always  obtained,  even 
when  no  calcareous  earth  or  carbonate  of  lime  was  present.  Fre- 
quent trials  have  shown  me  that  this  precipitate  is  considerably 
more  abundant  from  good  soils  than  bad.  The  substance  thus  ob- 
tained from  rich  soils  by  solution  and  precipitation,  in  every  case 
that  I  have  tried,  contains  some  carbonate  of  lime,  although  the 
soil  from  which  it  was  derived  had  none.  The  alkaline  liquor  from 
which  the  precipitate  has  been  separated,  we  are  told  by  Davy,  will, 
after  boiling,  let  fall  the  carbonate  of  magnesia,  if  any  had  been  in 
the  soil ;  but  when  any  notable  deposit  is  thus  obtained,  it  will 


DISAPPEARANCE   OP   CARBONATE   OP   LIME  IN   SOILS.         75 

often  be  found  to  consist  more  of  carbonate  of  lime,  than  of  mag- 
nesia.    The  following  are  examples  of  such  products: 

One  thousand  grains  of  tide-marsh  soil  (page  63,  No.  4),  acted 
on  by  muriatic  acid  in  the 'pneumatic  apparatus,  gave  out  no  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  and  therefore  could  have  contained  no  carbonate  of 
lime.  The  precipitate  obtained  from  the  same  weighed  sixteen 
grains ;  which  being  again  acted  on  by  sulphuric  acid,  evolved  as 
much  gas  as  showed  that  three  grains  had  become  carbonate  of 
lime,  in  the  previous  part  of  the  process. 

Two  hundred  grains  of  alluvial  soil  from  Saratoga  Springs  (page 
65,  No.  18),  containing  no  carbonate  of  lime,  yielded  a  precipitate 
of  twelve  grains,  of  which  three  was  carbonate  of  lime — and  a 
deposit  from  the  alkaline  solution  weighing  six  grains,  four  of 
which  was  carbonate  of  lime. 

Seven  hundred  grains  of  limestone  soil  from  Bedford,  Pennsyl- 
vania Cpart  of  the  specimen  marked  14,  page  64),  contained  about 
two-thirds  of  a  grain  of  carbonate  lime — and  its  precipitate  of 
twenty-eight  grains,  only  yielded  two  grains :  but  the  alkaline 
solution  deposited  eleven  grains  of  the  carbonates  of  lime  and 
magnesia,  of  which  at  least  five  was  of  the  former,  as  there 
remained  seven  and  a  half  of  solid  matter,  after  the  action  of  sul- 
phuric acid.* 

[Eleven  hundred  and  fifty  grains  of  the  rich  alluvial  earth  depo- 
sited by  the  Mississippi  river,  in  Arkansas,  yielded,  in  the  pneu- 
matic apparatus,  9£  ounce  measures  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and 
of  course  could  not  have  contained  more  than  nineteen  grains  of 
carbonate  of  lime, — or,  so  far  as  the  carbonate  was  of  magnesia, 
something  less  in  proportion.  But  by  adding  carbonate  of  potash 
to  the  acid  solution,  fifty-two  grains  were  precipitated,  all  of  which, 
according  to  Davy,  should  have  been  carbonate  of  lime;  and  from 
the  alkaline  solution  thus  made,  by  standing  and  boiling,  20£ 
grains  more  of  solid  matter  was  precipitated,  which,  according  to 
Davy,  should  have  been  carbonate  of  magnesia ;  and  making  of 

*  The  measurement  of  the  carbonic  acid  gas  evolved  was  relied  on  to 
show  the  whole  amount  of  carbonates  present — and  sulphuric  acid  was  used 
to  distinguish  between  lime  and  magnesia,  in  the  deposit  from  the  alkaline 
solution.  If  any  alumina  or  magnesia  had  made  part  of  the  solid  matter 
exposed  to  diluted  sulphuric  acid,  the  combinations  formed  would  have 
been  soluble  salts,  which  would  of  course  have  remained  dissolved  and  in- 
visible in  the  fluid.  Lime  only,  of  the  four  chemical  earths,  forms  with 
sulphuric  acid  a  substance  but  slightly  soluble,  and  which  therefore  can  be 
mostly  separated  in  a  solid  form.  The  whole  of  this  substance  (sulphate 
of  lime)  cannot  be  obtained  in  this  manner,  as  a  part  is  always  dissolved ; 
but  whatever  is  obtained,  proves  that  at  least  two-thirds  of  that  quantity 
of  carbonate  of  lime  had  been  present;  as  that  quantity  of  lime  which  will 
combine  with  enough  carbonic  acid  to  make  100  parts  (by  weight)  of  car- 
li  mate  of  Hme,  will  combine  with  so  much  more  of  sulphuric  acid,  as  to  form 
about  150  parts  of  the  sulphate  of  lime,  or  gypsum. 


76  NEUTRAL   SOILS. 

both  precipitates  (52  +  202—)  72 }  grains  of  carbonates  of  lime 
aud  magnesia,  for  the  quantity  in  the  original  specimen  of  soil. 
Yet  the  first  operation  clearly  proved  there  could  have  been  no  more 
than  nineteen.  Subsequent  information  and  experience  showed 
that  Davy's  mode  for  separating  the  results  of  lime  and  magnesia 
was  as  little  to  be  relied  on,  as  that  for  ascertaining  the  quantity 
of  carbonate  of  lime  alone.] 

From  these  processes,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  soils  con- 
tained a  proportion  of  some  salt  of  lime  (or  lime  combined  with  some 
kind  of  acid),  which  being  decomposed  by  and  combined  with  the 
muriatic  acid,  was  then  precipitated,  not  in  its  first  form,  but  in 
that  of  carbonate  of  lime — it  being  supplied  with  carbonic  acid 
from  the  carbonate  of  potash  used  to  produce  the  precipitation. 
The  proportions  obtained  in  these  cases  were  small ;  but  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  whole  quantity  of  lime  contained  in  the  soil  was 
found.  However,  to  the  extent  of  this  small  proportion  of  lime,  is 
proved  clearly  the  presence  of  enough  of  some  acid  (and  that  not 
the  carbonic)  to  combine  with  it.  Neither  could  it  have  been  the 
sulphuric,  or  the  phosphoric  acid ;  for  though  both  the  sulphate  and 
phosphate  of  lime  are  in  some  soils,  yet  neither  of  these  salts  can 
be  decomposed  by  muriatic  acid. 

Q(h.  The  strongest  objection  to  the  doctrine  of  neutral  soils  is, 
that,  if  true,  the  salt  formed  by  the  combination  of  the  lime  and 
acid  must  often  be  present  in  such  considerable  proportions,  that  it 
is  scarcely  credible  that  its  presence  and  nature  should  not  have 
been  discovered  by  any  of  the  able  chemists  who  have  analyzed 
soils.*     This  difficulty  I  cannot  remove,  but  it  may  be  met   (or 

*  This  difficulty,  founded  on  my  then  profound  and  often  misplaced  re- 
spect for  all  scientific  authorities,  would  have  been  less,  if  my  own  acquaint- 
ance with  chemistry  and  chemists  had  been  greater.  Boussingault  says 
that  any  substance  in  minute  quantity,  not  appearing  among  the  results  of 
analyses  by  chemists,  is  by  no  means  evidence  that  such  substances  might 
not  have  been  present,  and  even  easily  detected  in  the  original  body  ana- 
lyzed. Thus,  he  adds,  "  iodine  and  bromine  for  a  long  time  escaped  notice 
in  all  the  analyses  of  sea-water.  Chemists,  in  fact,  only  discover  readily 
the  bodies  which  exist  in  some  very  appreciable  quantities  in  the  com- 
pounds they  examine.  The  substances  whose  presence  is  not  foreseen, 
those  which  only  enter  in  extremely  small  quantity  in  a  mineral,  are  apt  to 
pass  the  eyes  unperceived,  of  even  the  most  skilful  and  conscientious." 
Rur.  Econ.  ftc,  p.  205. 

Stephens,  in  his  late  "Book  of  the  Farm,"  in  reference  to  his  reports 
of  analyses  of  soils,  says:  "I  regret  that  I  must  refer  to  foreign  works  to 
furnish  these  analyses ;  but  the  truth  is,  we  have  not  one  single  published 
analysis  of  British  soil  by  a  British  chemist  which  is  worth  reading.  Sir 
Humphry  Davy  just  analyzed  soil  to  determine  the  amount  of  the  first  four 
substances  mentioned  [silica,  alumina,  oxide  of  iron,  and  oxide  of  man- 
ganese], and  one  or  two  others,  and  failed  to  detect  five  or  six  of  the  most 
important  ingredients."  (P.  22-1,  of  republication  in  Skinner's  Farmer's 
Library.) 


NEUTRAL   SOILS.  77 

neutralized,  to  borrow  a  figure  from  ruy  subject),  by  showing  that 
an  equal  difficulty  awaits  those  who  may  support  the  other  side  of 
the  argument. 

The  theory  of  geologists  of  the  formation  of  soils,  from  the  de- 
composition or  disintegration  of  rocks,  is  received  as  true  by  all 
scientific  agriculturists.  The  soils  thus  supposed  to  be  formed,  re- 
ceive admixtures  from  each  other,  by  means  of  different  operations 
of  nature,  and  after  being  more  or  less  enriched  by  the  decay  of 
their  own  vegetable  products,  make  the  endless  variety  of  existing 
soils.*  But  where  a  soil,  lying  on  and  thus  supposed  to  have  been 
formed  from  any  particular  kind  of  rock,  is  so  situated  that  it  could 
not  have  been  moved,  nor  received  considerable  accessions  from 
torrents  or  other  agents,  then,  according  to  this  theory,  the  rock 
and  the  soil  should  be  composed  of  the  same  materials;  and  such 
soils  as  the  specimens,  marked  11  and  16  (page  64),  would  be,  like 
the  rock  they  touched,  nearly  pure  calcareous  earth,  instead  of  be- 
ing (as  they  were  in  truth)  destitute,  or  nearly  so,  of  that  ingre- 
dient. Such  are  the  doctrines  received  and  taught  by  Davy,  or  the 
unavoidable  deductions  from  them.  But,  without  contending  for 
the  full  extent  of  this  theory  of  the  formation  of  soils,  every  one 
must  admit  that  soils  thus  situated  must  have  received,  in  the  lapse 
of  ages,  some  accessions  to  their  bulk,  from  the  effects  of  frost, 
rain,  sun,  and  air,  on  the  lime-stone  in  contact  with  them.  All 
lime-stone  soils,  properly  so  called,  exhibit  certain  marked  and  pe- 
culiar characters  of  colour,  texture,  and  products,  which  can  only 
be  derived  from  receiving  into  their  composition  more  or  less  of  the 
rock  which  lies  beneath,  or  rises  above  their  surface.  This  mixture 
will  not  be  denied  by  any  one  who  has  observed  lime-stone  soils, 
and  reasons  fairly,  whether  his  investigation  begins  with  the  causes, 
or  their  effects.  If  then  all  this  accession  of  carbonate  of  lime  re- 
mains in  the  soil,  why  is  it  that  none,  or  almost  none,  is  discovered 
by  accurate  chemical  analysis  ?  Or,  if  it  be  supposed  not  present, 
nor  yet  changed  in  its  chemical  character,  in  what  possible  manner 
could  a  ponderous  and  iusoluble  earth  have  made  its  escape  from 
the  soil?  To  remove  this  obstacle,  without  admitting  the  opera- 
tion of  acid  in  making  such  soils  neutral,  will  be  attended  with  at 
least  as  much  difficulty,  as  any  arising  from  that  admission  being  made. 

7th.  But  we  are  not  left  entirely  to  conjecture  that  soils  were 
once  more  calcareous  than  they  now  are,  if  chemical  tests  can  be 
relied  on  to  furnish  proof.  Acid  soils  that  have  received  large 
quantities  of  calcareous  earth  as  manure,  after  some  time,  will  yield 
very  little  when  analyzed.  To  a  soil  of  this  kind,  full  of  vegetable 
matter,  I  applied,  in  1818  and  1821,  fossil  shells  at  such  a  known 

*  Agr.  Clicm.  p.  131.     Also  Treatise  on  Agriculture  (by  General  Arm- 
strong), quoted  in  a  preceding  page  (53)  of  this  essay. 
7  * 


73  DISAPPEARANCE   OP  CARBONATE   OF   LIME   IX    SOIL. 

and  heavy  rate  as  would  have  given  to  the  soil  (hy  calculation)  at 
three  per  cent,  of  calcareous  earth,  for  the  depth  of  five 
inches.  Only  a  small  portion  of  the  shelly  matter  was  very  finely 
divided  when  applied.  Since  the  application  of  the  greater  part 
of  this  dressing  (only  one-fourth  having  been  laid  on  in  1818),  no 
more  than  six  years  had  passed  before  the  following  examinations 
were  made  (at  end  of  1826) ;  and  the  cultivation  of  five  crops  in 
that  time,  three  of  which  were  horse-hoed,  must  have  well  mixed 
the  calcareous  earth  with  the  soil.  Three  careful  examinations 
gave  the  following  results  : 

No.  1. — 100  grains  yielded  7  }  of  coarse  calcareous  earth  (fragments 
of  shells), 

And  less  than    $  of  finely  divided. 


No.  2. — 1000  grains  yielded  5  of  coarse, 

2  finely  divided, 


N  h  3. — 1500  grains  yielded  15    of  coarse, 

2i  finely  divided. 


m 


The  specimens,  Xo.  1  and  Xo.  2,  were  obtained  by  taking  hand- 
fuls  of  soil  from  several  places  (four  in  one  case,  and  twelve  in  the 
other),  mixing  them  well  together,  and  then  taking  the  samples 
for  trial  from  the  two  parcels.  On  such  land,  when  not  recently 
ploughed,  there  will  always  be  an  over-proportion  of  the  pieces  of 
shells  on  the  surface,  as  the  rains  have  settled  the  fine  soil,  and 
left  exposed  the  coarser  matters.  On  this  account,  in  making 
these  two  selections,  the  upper  half-inch  was  first  thrown  aside,  and 
the  handful  dug  from  below.  Xo.  3  was  taken  from  a  spot  show- 
ing a  full  average  quantity  of  small  fragments  of  shells,  and  in- 
cluded the  surface.  I  considered  the  three  trials  made  as  fairly  as 
p  --ible,  to  give  a  general  average.  Small  "as  is  the  proportion  of 
finely  divided  calcareous  earth  exhibited,  it  must  have  been  in- 
creased by  rubbing  some  particles  from  the  coarser  fragments,  in 
the  operation  of  separating  them  by  a  fine  sieve-  Indeed  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  any  proportion  remained  very  finely  divided — 
or  in  other  words,  whether  it  had  not  been  combined  with  acid,  as 
fast  as  it  was  so  reduced.  But  without  the  benefit  of  this  supposi- 
tion, the  finely  divided  calcareous  earth  in  the  three  specimens 
averaged  only  one  and  one-fourth  grains  to  the  thousand,  which  is 
one  twenty-fourth  of  the  quantity  laid  on;  and  the  total  quantity 


DISAPPEARANCE   OP   CARBONATE  OF   LIME   FROM   SOIL.       79 

obtained,  of  coarse  and  fine,  is  eight  grains  in  one  thousand,  or 
about  one-fourth  of  the  original  proportion.  All  the  remainder 
had  changed  its  form,  or  otherwise  disappeared,  in  the  few  years 
that  had  passed  since  the  application,* 

[Another  similar  trial  of  this  soil  from  the  same  ground  was  re- 
peated in  July,  1842,  which  showed  that  the  finely  divided  carbo- 
nate of  lime,  then  remaining,  was  in  quantity  so  small  as  to  be 
barely  perceptible  and  appreciable.  The  land  had  then  remained 
undisturbed  by  tillage  for  nine  months ;  and  some  scattered  frag- 
ments of  shells  were  exposed  to  view  on  the  surface  generally. 
For  the  obvious  reasons  stated  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  there 
will  alwa}-s  appear  an  over-proportion  of  such  fragments,  upon  the 
surface  of  land  not  recently  ploughed ;  for  this  reason,  as  on  two 
of  the  three  former  trials,  the  upper  half-inch  of  surface  soil  was. 
thrown  aside,  and  the  sample  for  examination  taken  immediately 
below.  Of  this,  2400  grains  yielded  two  grains  only  of  small 
fragments  of  shells,  and  less  than  one  grain  of  finely  divided  car- 
bonate of  lime ;  whereas  seventy-two  grains  had  been  the  original 
quantity  furnished  to  the  soil.  This  result,  with  those  of  the 
earlier  trials,  agree  precisely  with  what  would  be  expected  from  the 
action  of  acid  in  soil,  and  cannot  be  satisfactorily  explained  by 
any  other  doctrine. f — 1842.] 

[*  An  experiment  conducted  by  Lampadius,  and  quoted  by  Johnston  in 
Lis  recent  work,  is  very  like  tlie  above,  and  shows  like  results.  "He 
miuglcd  [the  carbonate  of]  lime  with  the  soil  of  a  piece  of  ground  till  it 
was  in  the  proportion  of  1.19  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  and  he  determined 
subsequently  by  analysis,  the  quantity  of  lime  it  contained  in  each  of  the 
three  succeeding  years. 

1st  year  it  contained  1.19  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. 

2d  rear         .         .     0.89         " 

3d  year         .         .     0.52         "  " 

4th  year         .         .0.24         "  " 

But  from  these  premises,  so  similar  to  mine,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
Prof.  Johnston  arrives  at  a  very  different  conclusion.  He  takes  the  gradual 
lessening  of  the  carbonate  as  proving  the  entire  removal  from  the  soil  of  so 
much  lime;  while  I  considered  it  as  showing  merely  the  change  from  the 
carbonate  to  some  other  salts  of  lime. — 1849.] 

[f  Even  of  this  very  small  amount  of  fragments  of  shells  found  (2  grains), 
more  than  half  was  of  the  very  hard  gray  shells  (oyster  and  scallop), 
which  seem  almost  indestructible  in  soil.  They  must  contain  some  chemi- 
cal ingredient  which  enables  them  to  withstand  the  acid  or  other  corroding 
action  of  soil,  to  which  all  the  white  fossil  sheas,  whether  hard  or  soft,  so 
readily  yield  in  the  course  of  time.  I  recently  observed  a  most  striking 
proof  of  this  well  known  general  fact  of  the  long  durability  of  these  gray 
shells,  and  consequently  their  comparative  worthlessness  as  a  manure.  On 
like  soil  to  the  subject  of  the  above  trials,  and  near  the  same  spot,  I 
recently  (18-42)  found  a  small  and  thin  but  well-marked  oyster-shell  (Ostrea 
Virginiana),  apparently  as  perfect  and  as  well  preserved  as  when  it  was 
dug  up,  and  which  was  a  good  characteristic  specimen  of  the  kind,  and,  as 


80  PROOFS   OF  NEUTRAL   SOILS. 

The  very  small  proportions  of  finely  divided  calcareous  earth 
compared  to  the  coarse,  in  some  shelly  soils,  furnish  still  stronger 
evidence  of  this  kind.  Of  the  York  river  soil  (described  page  GO 
No.  5), 

1260  grains,  yielded  of  coarse  calcareous  parts,         -     168  grains. 
And  of  finely  divided,  ....         8 

1014  of  the  rich  Nansemond  soil  (No.  6),       -         -     541  coarse. 

-       18  fine. 


As  many  of  the  shells  and  their  fragments  in  these  soils  are  in  a 
mouldering  state,  it  is  incredible  that  the  whole  quantity  of  finely 
divided  particles  derived  from  them  should  have  amounted  to  no 
more  than  these  small  proportions.  Independent  of  the  action  of 
natural  causes,  the  plough  alone,  in  a  few  years,  must  have  pulver- 
ized at  least  as  much  of  the  shells  as  was  found. 

8th.  In  other  cases,  where  the  operations  of  nature  have  been 
applying  calcareous  earth  for  ages,  none  now  remains  in  the  soil ; 
and  the  proof  thence  derived  is  more  striking  than  any  obtained 
from  artificial  applications  of  only  a  few  years'  standing.  Valleys, 
subject  to  be  frequently  flooded  and  saturated  by  the  water  of  lime- 
stone streams,  must  necessarily  retain  a  new  supply  of  calcareous 
earth  from  every  such  soaking  and  drying.  Lime-stone  water  con- 
tains the  super-carbonate  of  lime,  which  is  soluble;  but  this  loses 
its  excess  of  carbonic  acid  when  left  dry  by  evaporation,  and  be- 
comes the  carbonate  of  lime,  which  not  being  soluble,  is  in  no 
danger  of  being  removed  by  subsequent  floods.  Thus,  accessions 
are  slowly  but  continually  made,  through  many  centuries.  Yet 
such  soils  are  found  containing  no  calcareous  earth — of  which  a 
remarkable  example  is  presented  in  the  soil  of  the  cultivated  part 
of  the  Sweet  Spring  Valley  (No.  8,  page  63.) 

[The  excess  of  carbonic  acid,  which  unites  with  lime  and  renders 
the  compound  soluble  in  water,  is  lost  by  exposure  of  the  calcare- 
ous water  to  the  air,  as  well  as  by  evaporation  to  dryness.  \_Ac- 
cum's  Chemistry — LimeJ\  The  masses  of  soft  calcareous  rock 
which  are  deposited  in  the  rapids  of  lime-stone  streams  are  exam- 
ples of  the  loss  of  carbonic  acid  from  exposure  to  the  air  j  aud  the 
stalactites  in  caves,  the  deposit  of  the  slow-droppiug  water  holding 
in  solution  the  super-carbonate  of  lime,  are  examples  of  the  same 
effect  produced  by  evaporation.  A  similar  deposit  of  insoluble 
carbonate  of  lime,  from  both  these  causes,  is  necessarily  made  on 
all  land  subject  to  be  flooded  by  lime-stone  waters.] 

such,  has  been  placed  in  my  cabinet.  This  shell  was  part  of  the  dressing 
spread  upon  the  field  for  the  crop  of  1821,  and  had  been  since  exposed  to 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  tillage  and  of  -weather  for  nearly  twenty-two  years. 
—1842.] 


LIME   IN    WUUD   ASHES. 


81 


9th.  All  wood  ashes  contain  salts  of  lime  (and  most  kinds  in 
large  proportions),  which  could  have  been  derived  from  no  ether 
source  than  the  soils  on  which  the  trees  grew.  The  lime  thus  ob- 
tained from  ashes  is  principally  combined  with  carbonic  acid,  and 
partly  with  the  phosphoric,  forming  phosphate  of  lime.  The 
table  of  Saussure's  analyses  of  the  ashes  of  numerous  plants,*  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  these  products  are  general,  if  not  universal. 
The  following  examples  of  some  of  my  own  few  examinations  indi- 
cate that  ashes  yield  calcareous  earth  in  proportions  suitable  to 
their  kind,  although  the  wood  grew  on  soils  destitute  of  that  in- 
gredient— as  was  ascertained  with  regard  to  each  of  these  soils. 


CARBONATE 

PHOSPHATE 

100  GRAINS  OF  ASHES  FROM 

WHAT  SOIL  TAKEN  FROM. 

OF 

OF 

LIME. 

LIME. 

Whortleberry  bushes,  the 

entire  plants,  except  the 

leaves, 

Acid  silicious  loam, 

4  grains. 

4  grains. 

Equal  parts  of  the  bark, 

heart,  and  sap-wood  of 

an  old  locust, 

The  same, 

51     " 

18     " 

Young  locust  bushes  entire 

Rich  neutral  clay  loam, 

40     " 

30     " 

Young  pine  bushes, 

Acid  silicious  loam, 

9     « 

6     " 

Body  of  a  young  pine  tree, 

Acid  clay  soil, 

14     » 

18     " 

Body  of  a  white  oak  sap- 

ling, 

Stiff  whitish  clay,  acid 
and  poor, 

70        of  both. 

The  potash  was  first  carefully  taken  out  of  all  these  samples. 
The  remaining  solid  matter  was  silicious  sand  and  charcoal ;  the 
proportion  of  the  latter  varying  according  to  the  degree  of  heat 
used  in  burning  the  wood,  which  was  not  permitted  to  be  very 
strong,  for  fear  of  converting  the  calcareous  earth  into  cpaick-lime.f 

*  Quoted  in  Davy's  Agr.  Chem.  Lecture  3. 

f  [In  the  first  sketch  and  earliest  publication  of  this  essay  in  the 
"American  Farmer,"  of  1821,  the  statement  of  the  calcareous  contents  of 
ashes,  similar  to  the  above,  was  followed  by  the  following  remark:  "The 
results  of  the  few  examinations  I  have  made  do  not  confirm  the  opinion 
[or  results]  of  De  Saussure,  that  ashes  yield  quantities  of  calcareous  earth 
somewhat  proportioned  to  the  quantities  contained  in  the  soils  from  which 
they  were  taken.  But  they  show,  in  different  plants,  quantities  suited  to 
the  soil  which  each  prefers.  Thus,  of  three  kinds  of  ashes  from  the  same 
soil,  those  of  pine  gave  5 \,  of  whortleberry  4,  and  of  locust  51  per  cent, 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  [somewhat]  similar  proportions  of  other  salts 
of  lime."  (Am.  Far.  Hi.,  p.  316.)  In  all  the  succeeding  separate  editions 
of  the  essay,  this  remark  was  suppressed,  being  deemed  too  presumptuous 
for  me  to  use.  But  I  may  now  dave  to  reassume  the  position,  since  John- 
ston denies  the  accuracy  of  De  Saussure's  and  also  of  Berthier's  analyses, 
which  concur  in  the  conclusions  referred  to,  and  also  the  correctness  of  these 


82  LIME   IN    WOOD    ASHES. 

It  must  be  evident  and  unquestionable  that  all  the  carbonate  of 
lime  yielded  by  the  ashes  had  been  necessarily  furnished  in  some 
form  by  the  soil  on  which  the  plants  grew;  and  when  the  soil 
itself  contained  no  carbonate,  as  in  all  these  cases,  some  other 
compound  of  lime  must  have  been  present,  to  enable  us  to  Account 
for  these  certain  and  invariable  results.  The  presence  of  a  com- 
bination of  lime  with  some  vegetable  acid,  and  none  other,  would 
serve  to  produce  such  effects.  According  to  established  chemical 
laws,  if  any  such  combination  had  been  taken  up  into  the  sap- 
vessels,  of  the  tree,  it  would  be  decomposed  by  the  heat  necessary 
to  convert  the  wood  to  ashes ;  the  acid  would  be  reduced  to  its 
elementary  principles,  and  the  lime  would  immediately  unite  with 
the  carbonic  acid  (which  is  produced  abundantly  by  the  process 
of  combustion),  and  thus  present  a  product  of  carbonate  of  lime 
newly  formed  from  the  materials  of  the  other  substances  decom- 
posed.* 

On  the  foregoing  facts  and  deductions,  I  am  content  to  rest  the 
truth  of  the  existence  of  acid  and  neutral  soils. 


NOTE. 

Scientific  Confirmation  of  the  doctrine  of  Acid  in  Soils. 

[1835.  I  have  chosen  to  leave  all  the  preceding  part  of  this 
chapter  (with  the  exception  of  a  few  merely  vcrbaL-corrcctions  and 
alterations)  precisely  as  it  appeared  in  the  previous  edition  of  this 

conclusions.  He  adds  the  folio-wing  words,  which,  in  connexion  with  his 
context,  show  that  his  opinion  concurs  with  my  position,  that  (supposing 
enough  lime  to  be  present)  the  proportion  in  the  ashes  of  plants  is  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  and  demand  for  lime,  of  the  particular  plant;  and  not  to 
the  great  abundance  or  scarcity  of  lime  in  the  soil  producing  the  plant. 
He  says — "the  ash  of  the  same  plant,  if  ripe  and  healthy,  is  nearly  the 
same  in  kind  and  quality  in  whatevcr'circumstances  (if  favourable)  of  soil 
or  climate  it  may  grow."  (p.  244.)  That  chemists  now  generally  admit 
De  Saussure's  conclusions  to  be  erroneous  may  also  be  safely  inferred 
from  this :  the  many  results  of  the  ashes  of  plants  which  have  appeared 
in  recent  works,  are  rarely  (if  ever)  accompanied  by  any  report  of  the 
contents  of  the  soil  whence  derived;  thus  showing  that  the  calcareous  or 
other  ingredients  are  inferred  to  be  according  to  the  kind  of  plant,  and 
not  dependent  on  the  character  of  the  soil. — 1840,] 

*  The  reasoning  on  the  pi'esence  of  the  carbonate  of  lime  found  in 
ashes  from  acid  soils,  does  not  apply  to  the  phosphate  of  lime  which  is  also 
always  present.  The  latter  salt  is  not  decomposed  by  any  known  degree 
of  heat  [Art.  Chemistry,  in  Eilin.  Ency.~],  and  therefore  might  possibly  have 
remained  unchanged,  in  passing  from  the  soil  to  the  tree,  and  thence  to  the 
ashes. 


ii u: Mic  acii'.  83 

essay,  (January  1832.)*  But  since  that  time  T  have  first  beard  of 
a  discovery,  and  of  consequent  investigations  by  men  of  science, 
•which  seem  to  furnish  direct  proof  of  what  I  have  been  contending 
for,  viz.  the  existence  of  a  vegetable  acid  substance  in  soi/s  and 
manures,  generally  diffused,  and  often  in  large  proportions,  and 
yet  which  had  not  been  known  or  sitsjiccted  by  chemists  previously. 
The  first  intimation  of  this  discovery  which  reached  me  was  in  an 
extract  in  a  newspaper  from  the  "Alphabet  of  Scientific  Ci ar- 
il ninij,"  by  Professor  Ronnie,  published  in  London  in  18oo,  from 
which  the  part  relative  to  this  subject  will  be  quoted  below. 
Since,  I  have  seen  the  French  version  of  the  late  work  of  Berzc- 
lius,  in  which  his  views  of  humic  acid  (or,  as  he  names  it,  the  geic 
acid)  are  given  more  at  length. f  The  facts  respecting  humic 
acid,  as  concisely  stated  in  the  following  quotation  from  Professor 
Rennie,  furnish  strong  confirmation  of  some  of  the  opinions  which 
I  have  endeavoured  to  maintain.  It  will  however  be  left,  without 
farther  comment,  for  the  reader  to  observe  the  accordance,  and  to 
make  the  application. 

"  Hit  mic  acid  and  hitmin. — In  most  chemical  books  the  terms  uhnic  acid 
and  ulmin  are  used,  from  ulmus,  elm;  but,  as  its  substance  occurs  in  most, 
if  not  all  plants,  the  name  is  bad.  I  prefer  Sprengel's  terms,  from  humus, 
soil. 

li  This  important  substance  was  first  discovered  by  Klaproth,  in  a  sort 
of  gum  from  an  elm  ;  but  it  has  since  been  found  by  Berzelius  in  all  barks ; 
by  M.  Braconnot  in  saw-dust,  starch,  and  sugar;  and,  what  is  still  more 
interesting  for  our  present  purpose,  it  has  been  found  by  Sprengel  and  M. 
Polydore  Boullay  to  constitute  a  leading  principle  in  soils  and  manures. 
Ilmnin  appears  to  be  formed  of  carbon  and  hydrogen,  and  the  humic  acid 
of  humin  and  oxygen.  Pure  humin  is  of  a  deep  blackish  brown,  without 
taste  or  smell,  and  water  dissolves  it  with  great  difficulty  and  in  small 
quantities ;  consequently  it  cannot,  when  pure,  be  available  as  food  for 
plants. 

"Humic  acid,  however,  which,  I  may  remark,  is  not  sour  to  the  taste, 
readily  combines  with  many  of  the  substances  found  in  soils  and  manures, 
and  not  only  renders  them,  but  itself  also,  easy  to  be  dissolved  in  water, 
which  in  their  separate  state  could  not  take  place.  In  this  way  humic  acid 
will  combine  with  lime,  potass,  and  ammonia,  in  the  form  of  humates,  and  the 
smallest  portion  of  these  unit  render  it  soluble  in  water  and  fit  to  be  taken  up  by 
the  spon gelets  of  the  root  fibres. 

"  It  appears  to  have  been  from  ignorance  of  the  important  action  of  the 
humic  acid  in  thus  helping  to  dissolve  earthy  matters,  that  the  older 
writers  were  so  puzzled  to  discover  how  lime  and  potass  got  into  plants; 
and  it  seems  also  to  be  this,  chiefly,  which  is  so  vaguely  treated  of  in  the 

*  The  general  positions  and  views  taken  as  to  acid  and  neutral  soils  are 
also,  in  substance  and  purport,  just  as  they  appeared  in  my  first  publica- 
tion on  this  subject,  in  1821. 

f  A  long  extract  from  Berzelius'  "  Traitc  de  Chimie,"  embracing  these 
views,  was  translated  for  and  published  in  the  two  preceding  editions  of 
this  essay,  and  also  in  the  Parmer's  Register.  It  is  omitted  now  as  un- 
necessary.— 1849. 


v  I  II U MIC    ACID. 

older  book?,  under  the  names  of  extractive,  vegetable  extract,  mucilaginous 
matter,  and  the  like.  SaoBSure,  for  instance,  filled  a  vessel  with  turf,  and 
itened  it  thoroughly  with  pure  water,  when  by  putting  ten  thousand 
parts  of  it  by  weight  under  a  heaTy  press,  and  filtering  and  evaporating 
the  fluid,  he  obtained  twenty-sis  parts  of  what  he  termed  extract;  from 
ten  thousand  parts  of  well  dunged  and  rich  kitchen  garden  mould,  he  ob- 
tained ten  parts  of  extract ;  and  from  ten  thousand  parts  of  good  corn  field 
mould,  he  obtained  four  parts  of  extract. 

"M.  Polydore  Boullay  found  that  the  liquid  manure,  drained  from 
dunghills,  contains  a  large  proportion  of  humic  acid,  which  accounts  for 
its  fertilizing  properties  so  well  known  in  China  and  on  the  continent ;  and 
he  found  it  also  in  peat  earth,  and  in  varying  proportions  iu  all  sorts  of 
turf.  It  appears  probable,  from  Gay-Lussac  having  found  a  similar  acid 
(technically  aziunic  acid),  on  decomposing  the  prussic  acid  (technically 
hydro-cyanic  acid),  that  the  humic  acid  may  be  found  in  animal  blood,  and 
if  so,  it  will  account  for  its  utility  as  a  manure  for  vines,  6lc.  Dobereiner 
found  the  gallic  acid  convertible  into  the  humic." 

[When  the  second  edition  of  this  essay  was  published  (in  1835), 
the  above  annunciation  had  but  just  before  been  made,  showing 
that  there  was  indeed  high  scientific  authority  for  the  very  general 
existence  of  a  vegetable  acid  in  soils.  And  since  that  time,  the 
fact  has  been  admitted  by  almost  all  scientific  writers,  and  has 
been  treated  of  at  length  in  sundry  chemical  works  and  reports  of 
geological  surveys  in  this  country.  The  doctrine  of  the  existence 
of  an  acid  of  soil,  of  vegetable  origin,  which  before  had  scarcely 
any  other  authority  for  its  support  than  mine,  humble  and  obscure 
as  that  was,  is  now  of  universal  acceptation.  Still,  notwithstand- 
ing all  that  has  been  written  on  the  subject,  very  little  light  has 
been  thrown  on  it  by  the  chemists  who  have  treated  of  it.  Being 
myself  too  little  informed  to  be  able  to  properly  digest  these 
different  speculations  and  to  balance  authorities,  and  to  separate 
the  true  aud  valuable  from  the  erroneous  or  worthless  of  what  has 
been  lately  published,  I  deem  it  best  still  to  rely  on  my  own  pre- 
viously published  views  and  proofs  only,  as  presented  in  the  fore- 
Therefore,  leaving  it  to  chemists  to  settle  their 
present  differences  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  qualities,  and  even 
identity,  as  well  as  name  of  the  acid  of  soil,  and  to  clear  away  the 
existing  confusion  and  obscurity  of  their  views,  I  will,  for  the 
present,  adopt  nothing  on  their  authority  in  this  respect.  Still,  I 
earnestly  hope  that  their  subsequent  investigations  may  be  success- 
ful in  eliciting  and  determining  what  is  true  of  this  acid — and  also 
in  applying  the  truths  ascertained  to  advance  the  knowledge  of  the 
composition  and  improvement  of  soils.  For  the  same  reason,  1 
shall  also  decline  adopting  any  of  the  various  terms  which  have 
been  successively  applied  by  different,  and  even  the  same  chemists, 
to  designate  the  acid  of  soil :  as  hutnic,  'jcic,  crcnic,  and  oj/oercnic 
.   .— ]     12.] 

[Long  after  the  publication  of  the  latest  of  the  passages  of  the 
foregoing  chapter,  I  first  learned  the  existence  of  good  and  sufficient 


TI1AE11  S    PUBLICATION    OF    VIEWS.  80 

authority,  in  a  work  of  deservedly  high  reputation,  for  my  doctrine 
of  acid  soils.  This  is  Timer's  "Principles  of  Agriculture,"  of 
which  the  English  translation  was  first  published  in  the  United 
States  in  1846,  (in  Skinner's  "Farmers'  Library,")  and  which 
permitted  my  earliest  access  to  the  work.  The  portion  on  humus 
testifies  positively  and  fully  to  the  existence  of  acid  soils,  an  I  also 
to  such  results  therefrom  as  I  have  maintained.  At  what  time 
these  particular  and  important  views  of  Timer  were  first  published, 
does  not  appear;  though  it  may  be  inferred,  as  almost  certain,  that 
it  was  subsequent  to  the  discovery  aud  early  observations  of  huniic 
acid  of  Sprengel  and  Boullay,  as  stated  above  in  the  article  quoted 
from  Ronnie's  publication  of  1833.  The  preface  to  the  translation 
of  Thaer's  work  states  that  the  original  was  first  published  in  Ger- 
many, in  successive  numbers,  from  1810  to  1812.  But  a  work  of 
this  kind,  in  every  succeeding  edition,  would  undoubtedly  receive 
from  its  author  such  additions  and  alterations  as  would  keep  pace 
with  the  progress  of  agricultural  and  chemical  science.  __  In  pre- 
senting the  doctrine  of  acid  in  soil,  Thaer  does  not  claim  the  im- 
portant discovery  as  his  own,  nor  has  he  ever  been  quoted  as  the 
first  discoverer,  or  ^ven  as  one  among  the  earlier  investigators. 
Neither  does  he  refer  to  other  names,  as  authorities  (as  llennie 
has  done  above),  which  would  naturally  have  been  done  if  it  was 
then  a  discovery  so  recent  as  to  require  such  authentication.  These 
would  be  enough  reasons  for  inferring  that  Thaer's  statements 
on  this  subject  are  of  date  much  later  than  his  first  edition.  There 
is  another  strong  reason  for  this  position.  If  he  had  announced 
the  existence  of  acid  in  soils  in  his  earliest  edition,  it  would  have 
been  prior  to  the  earliest  elaborate  and  very  able  works  on  agri- 
cultural chemistry,  by  Davy  and  Chaptal.  It  is  incredible  that 
both  these  distinguished  investigators  should  have  passed  over  such 
evidence,  if  in  existence,  and  upon  such  high  agricultural  authority 
as  Thaer's,  without  the  slightest  notice,  and  (as  before  stated) 
without  making  any  allusion  to  the  existence  of  humic  or  any 
other  vegetable  acid  as  a  very  general  ingredient  of  soils.  Indeed 
there  is  direct  proof  that  Thaer's  work  was  a  later  publication  than 
Chaptal's,  as  the  latter  is  quoted  from  in  the  former,  in  the  portion 
entitled  "  Theory  of  Soils."  For  each  and  all  these  reasons,  it  is 
impossible  that  Thaer's  notice  of  humic  acid  could  have  been  as 
early  as  his  first  edition;  and  very  improbable  that  it  should  have 
been  as  early  as  Professor  Rennie's  statement  copied  above. 

But  whatever  was  their  date,  the  following  passages  from  Thaer 
offer  confirmation  of  my  views  of  acid  soils  more  full  and  complete 
than  to  be  seen  in  any  other  author  within  my  observation,  and 
which,  therefore,  are  doubly  welcome,  as  the  testimony  of  so  pro- 
found and  distinguished  an  investigator. 
8 


88  T1IAER   OS   II U  MIC   ACID   IX    fcUlL. 

"Humus"  is  the  term  used  by  this  author  for  the  decor.- 
vegetable  and  other  organic  matter  which  is  more  ixed 

with  all  surface  soil,  and  which  gives  to  soil  all  its  fertility,  and 
furnishes  all  the  food  of  plants.     He  continues : — 

"It  is  the  residue  of  animal  and  vegetable  putrefaction,  and  is  a  black 
body;  when  dry  it  is  pulverulent,  and  when  wet  has  a  soft,  greasy  feel." — 
'•It  is  the  produce  of  organic  power — a  compound  of  carbon,  hydrogen, 
nitrogen,  and  oxygen,  such  as  cannot  be  chemically  composed,"  ^c.   p. 

"  When  humus  remains  constantly  damp,  without,  however,  being  i 
with  water,  it  forms  a  very  unpleasant  smelling  acid,  which  is  more  parti- 
cularly characterized  by  the  property  which  it  possesses  of  colouring  blue 
litmus  paper  into  red.  This  circumstance  has  long  been  known,  and  it  is 
the  reason  that  land  and  meadows  which  are  not  properly  drained,  and 
which  exhibit  these  phenomena,  are  called  sour.  We  have  carefully  exa- 
mined these  facts,  and  have  endeavoured  to  discover  the  peculiar  constitu- 
tion of  this  acid.  At  first,  we  were  inclined  to  regard  it  as  being  of  a  dis- 
tinct nature,  and  having  carbon  for  its  base ;  but  we  have  since  become 
convinced  that  it  is  generally  composed  of  acetic  acid,  and  occasionally 
contains  a  portiou  of  the  phosphoric.  This  latter  always  adheres  so  firmly 
to  the  humus  that  it  cannot  be  separated  from  it  either  by  boiling  or  wash- 
ing. The  liquid  in  which  the  humus  is  boiled  certainly  acquires  a  slight 
acid  flavour,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  acid  remains  attached  to  the  hu- 
mus."— "  This  acid  or  sour  humus  is  not  at  all  of  a  fertilizing  nature  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  prejudicial  to  vegetation.*  Where  it  is  very  strong  and  per- 
vades the  whole  of  the  humus,  the  soil  only  produces  reeds,  rushes,  m 
and  other  useless,  unpalatable  plants;  and  whenever  these  abound,  it  may 
be  inferred  that  the  soil  contains  a  great  deal  of  sour  or  acid  humus. :"f — 
"  There  are  various  means  of  getting  rid  of  this  baneful  property,  and 
rendering  the  humus  fertile." — "It  is  well  known  that  with  the  aid  of  al- 
kalies, ashes,  lime,  and  marl,  humus  may  be  deprived  of  its  acidity,  and 
rendered  easily  soluble." — "  Heaths  do  not  thrive  where  this  [acid]  humus 
does  not  exist,  and  when  they  have  established  themselves  in  one  particular 
spot,  they  suffer  few  other  plants  to  appear.  This  humus  may  be  changed 
by  a  dressing  composed  of  marl,  lime,  or  ammonia ;  and  where  this  has 
been  mixed  with  the  soil,  the  heaths,  &c,  speedily  perish."  (p.  538-9.) 

"  In  the  greater  number  of  cases,  peat  is  very  much  like  acid  or  sour 
humus;  indeed,  it  sometimes  resembles  it  so  strikingly  that  it  is  impossible 
inguish  these  substances  apart."  (p.  540.) 

"In  both  the  kinds  of  land  we  have  been  considering  [i.  e.,  classes  of 
very  fertile  soil,  rich  in  humus],  we  have  supposed  the  humus  to  be  mild,  or 
exempt  from  acidity. %  Sour  or  acid  humus  totally  destroys  the  fertility  of  a 
soil;  sometimes,  however,  the  soil  contains  so  very  small  a  portion  of  acid- 
ity that  its  fertility  is  very  slightly  diminished,  and  only  with  regard  to 
some  few  plants.  Barley  crops  become  more  and  more  scanty  in  propor- 
tion as  the  acidity  is  increased  ;  but  oats  do  not  appear  to  be  at  all  all' 
by  it.  Eye  grown  on  such  land  is  peculiarly  liable  to  rust,  and  is  easily 
laid  or  lodged.     The  grains  of  all  the  cereals  become  larger,  but  contain 

*  Even  to  this  day,  Yon  Thaer  is  the  only  agricultural  chemist  known, 
who  affirms,  with  me,  this  important  evil  quality  of  the  acid  of  soil. — E.  R. 

j  These,  of  course,  are  like  our  broom-grass,  sorrel,  poverty  grass,  pine, 
&c,  of  the  general  class  of  what  I  called  acid  plants.  Heath  is  another, 
and  the  most  abundant  in  Europe,  though  not  existing  in  America. — K.  K. 

X  Which,  according  to  my  views  and  language,  would  be  expressed  by  the 
acid  of  the  soil  having  been  neutralized  by  lime. — E.  R. 


DEDUCTIONS  VBOM   FOREGOING   DOCTRINES.  87 

less  farina.    Grass  which  grows  on  these  spots  is,  both  in  species  and  taste, 
reeable,  and  less  suitable  for  cattle,  than  any  other,  although  it  yields 
a  very  considerable  produce  in  hay.     In  fact,  in  exact  proportion  with  the 
increase  of  acidity,  is  the  decrease  of  the  value  of  the  soil,"  &c. 


[If  the  foregoing  examinations  of  soils,  and  the  arguments  which  fol- 
low, remain  unquestioned,  these  two  remarkable  and  important  facts 
may  be  considered  as  thereby  established  beyond  dispute  or  doubt : 
1st.  That  calcareous  earth,  calx,  or  carbonate  of  lime,  is  in  gene- 
ral as  entirely  deficient  in  the  soils  of  Virginia,  as  that  ingredient 
had  heretofore  been  supposed,  by  agricultural  writers,  to  be  com- 
mon in  all  soils ;  and, 

2d,  That,  notwithstanding  this  total  absence  of  the  carbonate  of 
lime,  lime  in  some  other  form  of  combination,  and  in  greater  or  less 
quantity,  is  an  ingredient  of  every  soil  capable  of  producing  vegetation. 
Nor  do  these  facts  come  in  conflict  with  each  other ;  nor  either 
of  them  with  the  position  which  has  been  contended  for,  that  calca- 
reous matter  in  proper  proportions  is  necessary  to^ cause  fertility  in 
soils.  Should  some  other  person,  who  may  be  aided  by  sufficient 
scientific  light,  undertake  the  investigation,  he  may  supply  all  that 
is  wanting  for  the  direct  proof  of  this  theory  of  the  cause  of  fer- 
tility, and  perhaps  show  that  the  productive  value  of  a  soil  (under 
equal  circumstances)  is  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  the  vege- 
table salts  of  lime  present  in  the  soil.  The  direct  and  positive 
proof  of  this  doctrine,  I  confidently  anticipate  will  hereafter  be  ob- 
tained from  more  full  examinations  of  the  humic  acid,  and  its  com- 
pounds in  various  soils,  and  from  correct  and  minute  reports  of  the 
quantities  and  kinds  of  those  ingredients,  in  connexion  with  the 
degree  of  the  natural  fertility  of  each  soil.  As  yet,  however  in- 
teresting the  recent  discovery  of  humic  acid  may  be  to  chemists,  it 
does  not  seem  that  they  have  suspected  it  to-have  anything  like 
the  important  bearing  on  the  fertilization  of  soil  which  I  had  attri- 
buted to  the  supposed  acid  principle  or  ingredient  of  soils.  Ber- 
zelius  seems  scarcely  to  have  bestowed  a  thought  on  this  most  im- 
portant application  of  his  investigation  of  the  properties  of  geine 
and  geic  acid. — 1842.]  [Other  authors  deem  not  only  humin  but 
also  humic  acid  as  directly  fertilizing  to  soils,  and  beneficial  to 
plants ;  which,  as  to  this,  or  any  other  uncombined  acid,  is  altogether 
opposed  to  my  views.* — 1849.] 

*  Confirmatory  textimonj/.—  After  treating  extensively  of  different  acids 
of  soils  (humic.  ulmic,  crenic,  apocrenic,  and  medusous),  Johnston  adus: 
"Besides  these  acids,  it  is  known  that  the  malic  and  acetic  areoceasionally 
produced  in  the  soil  during  the  slow  decay  of  vegetable  matter  of  different 
kinds.  It  is  probable  that  many  other  analogous  compounds  are  likewise 
formed— which  are  more  or  less  soluble  in  water,  and  more  or  less  fitted  to 
aid  in  the  nourishment  of  plants."  (p.  280.)    The  last  words  of  the  passage 


83  FORMATION   OF  ACID  IN   SUIL. 

Supposing  the  doctrine  to  be  sufficiently  established  by  my  own 
proofs  offered  above,  it  may  be  useful  to  trace  the  formation  and 
increase  of  acidity  in  different  soils,  according  to  the  views  which 
have  been  presented,  and  to  display  the  promise  which  that  quality 
holds  out  for  improving  those  soils  which  it  has  heretofore  rendered 
barren  and  worthless. 

Every  neutral  soil  at  some  former  time  must  have  contained  cal- 
careous earth  in  sufficient  quantity  to  produce  the  uniform  effect 
of  that  ingredient  of  storing  up  and  fixing  fertility.  [It  was  then 
a  calcareous  soil,  however  small  might  have  been  the  proportion  of 
free  carbonate  of  lime  contained.]  The  decomposition  of  the  suc- 
cessive growths  of  plants,  left  to  rot  on  the  rich  soil,  continually 
formed  vegetable  acid,  which,  as  fast  as  formed,  united  with  the 
lime  in  the  soil.  At  last  these  two  principles  balanced  each  other, 
and  the  soil  was  no  longer  calcareous,  but  neutral.  Instead  of  its 
former  ingredient,  carbonate  of  lime,  it  was  now  supplied  with  a 
vegetable  salt  of  lime.  This  change  of  soil  does  not  affect  the  na- 
tural growth,  which  remains  the  same,  and  thrives  as  well  as  when 
the  soil  was  calcareous ;  and  when  brought  into  cultivation,  the 
soil  is  equally  productive  under  all  crops  suited  to  calcareous  soils. 
If  the  supplies  of  vegetable  matter  continue,  the  soil  may  even  be- 
come acid  in  some  measure,  as  maybe  evidenced  by  the  growth  of 
sorrel — but  without  losing  any  of  its  fertility  before  acquired.  The 
degree  of  acidity  in  any  one  soil  frequently  varies ;  it  is  increased 
by  the  growth  of  such  plants  as  delight  to  feed  on  it,  and  by  the 
decomposition  of  all  vegetable  matters.  Hence  the  longer  a  poor 
field  remains  at  rest,  and  not  grazed,  the  more  acid  it  becomes  ;  and 
this  evil  keeping  pace  with  the  benefits  derived,  is  the  cause  why  so 
little  improvement,  or  increased  product,  is  obtained  from  putting 
acid  soils  under  that  mild  treatment.  Cultivation  not  only  pre- 
vents new  supplies,  but  also  diminishes  the  acidity  already  present 

of  course  I  oppose ;  deeming  all  acid  products  of  soil,  alone,  as  injurious  to 
fertility  and  productiveness  of  the  land  for  useful  crops. 

Besides  the  state  of  carbonate,  Johnston  says  that  lime  exists  in  fertile 
soils  as  chloride  of  calcium  (muriate  of  lime),  as  sulphate,  phosphate, 
silicate,  or  humate  of  lime.  "  In  combination  with  humic  acid,  lime  exists 
most  frequently  in  soils  which  abound  in  vegetable  matter — in  peaty  soils, 
for  example,  to  which  lime  or  marl  have  been  added.  *  *  *  Few  in- 
vestigations have  as  yet  been  made  in  regard  to  the  proportion  of  lime 
which  exists  in  the  soil  in  the  state  of  humate.  It  has  generally  been  taken 
for  granted,  either  that  a  soil  wot  destitute  of  lime,  if  it  exhibited  no  sensible 
effervescence  with  dilute  muriatic  acid,  or,  when  further  research  was 
made,  and  the  quantity-of  lime  rigorously  determined,  that  the  ichole  of  this 
lime  must  have  mated  in  the  state  of  carbonate.  That  this  is  not  necessarily 
the  case,  however,  appears  to  be  proved  by  some  recent  examinations  of 
certain  Boils  in  Normandy,  which  contain  as  much  as  14  to  IS  per 
of  lime,  and  yet  exhibit  no  effervescence,  and  contain  no  carbonate.  The 
whole  of  the  lime  is  said  to  be  in  the  state  of  humate.  (p.  230-1. — 1849.] 


LIME   PRESENT   IN   ALL   SOILS,    NOT   BARREN. 


89 


in  excess,  by  exposing  it  to  th<>  atmosphere ;  and  therefore  the 
more  a  soil  is  exhausted  of  its  fertility,  the  more  will  also  be  less- 
ened its  acidity,  [in  absolute  quantity;  though  not  relatively  to  its 
decree  of  fertility,  which  will  be  lessened  still  more.] 

We  have  seen  from  the  proof  furnished  by  the  analysis  of  wood 
ashes,  that  even  poor  acid  soils  contain  a  little  salt  of  lime,  and 
therefore  must  have  been  slightly  calcareous  at  some  former  time. 
33ut  such  small  proportions  of  calcareous  earth  were  soon  equalled, 
and  then  exceeded,  by  the  formation  of  vegetable  acid,  before 
much  productiveness  was  caused.  The  soil  being  thus  changed, 
the  plants  suitable  to  calcareous  soils  died  off,  and  gave  place  to 
others  which  produce,  as  well  as  feed  and  thrive  on,  acidity.  Still, 
however,  even  these  plants  furnish  abundant  supplies  of  vegetable 
matter,  sufficient  to  enrich  the  land  in  the  highest  degree ;  but  the 
antiseptic  power  of  the  acid  prevents  the  leaves  from  rotting  for 
years,  and  even  then  the  soil  has  no  power  to  profit  by  their  pro- 
ducts! Though  continually  wasted,  the  vegetable  matter  is  continually 
again  forming,  and  always  present  in  abundance ;  but  must  remain 
almost  uselesl  to  the  soil,  until  the  accompanying  acidity  shall  be 
destroyed.  . 

fit  may  well  be  doubted  whether  any  soil  destitute  ot  lime  >n 
every  form  would  not  necessarily  be  a  perfect  barren,  incapable  of 
producing  a  spire  of  grass.     No  soil  thus  destitute  is  known,  as  the 
plants  of°all  soils  show  in  their  ashes  the  presence  of  some  lime. 
But  it  is  probable  that  our  sub-soils,  which,  when  left  naked  by  the 
washing  away  of  the  soil,  are  so  generally  and  totally  barren,  are 
made  so  by  their  being  entirely  destitute  of  lime  in  any  form. 
There  is  a  natural  process  regularly  and  at  all  times  working  to  de- 
prive the  sub-soil  of  all  lime,  unless  the  soil  is  abundantly  supplied. 
AVhat  constitutes  soil,  and  makes  the  strong  and  plain  mark  of 
separation  and  distinction  between  the  more  or  less  fertile  soil  and 
the  absolutely  sterile  sub-soil  beneath  ?     The  most  obvious  cause 
for  this  difference  which  might  be  stated,  is  the  dropping  of  the 
dead  vegetable  matter  on  the  surface ;  but  this  is  not  sufficient 
alone  to°produce' the  effects,  though  it  may  be  so  when  aided  by 
another  cause  of   more  power.     When  the  most  barren  surface 
earth  was  formed  or  deposited  by  any  of   the  natural  agents  to 
which  such  effects  are  attributed  by  geologists,  it  seems  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  surface  was  no  richer  than  any  lower  part  of 
the  whole  upper  stratum  so  deposited.     If,  then,  a  very  minute 
proportion  of  lime  had  been  equally  distributed  through  the  body 
of  poor  earth  to  any  depth  that  the  roots  of  trees  could  penetrate, 
it  would  follow  that  the  roots  would,  in  the  course  of  time,  take  up 
all  the  lime,  as  all  of  it  would  be  wanting  for  the  support  of  the 
trees ;  and  their  death  and  decay  would  afterwards  leave  all  this 
former  ingredient  of  the  soil,  in  general,  on  the  surface.     This 
8* 


90  DORMANT   FERTILITY   OF   UNPRODUCTIVE   LANDS. 

process  must  have  the  effect,  in  the  course  of  time,  of  fixing  on 
aud  near  the  surface  the  whole  of  a  scanty  Bupply  of  lime,  and  of 
leaving  the  subsoil  without  any.  But  if  there  is  within  the  reach 
of  the  roots  more  lime  than  any  one  crop  or  growth  of  plants 
needs,  then  the  superfluous  lime  will  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the 
sub-soil,  which  sub-soil  will  then  be  improvable  by  vegetable  sub- 
stances, and  readily  convertible  to  productive  soil.  The  manner 
in  which  lime  thus  operates  will  be  explained  in  the  next  chapter. 
—1835.] 

Nearly  all  the  woodland  now  remaining  in  lower  Virginia,  and 
also  much  of  the  land  which  has  long  been  arable,  is  rendered  un- 
productive by  acidity ;  and  successive  generations  have  toiled  on 
such  land,  almost  without  remuneration,  and  without  suspecting 
that  their  worst  virgin  land  was  then  richer  than  their  manured 
lots  appeared  to  be.  The  cultivator  of  such  soil,  who  knows  not 
its  peculiar  disease,  has  no  other  prospect  than  a  gradual  decrease 
of  his  always  scanty  crops.  But  if  the  evil  is  once  understood, 
and  the  means  of  its  removal  are  within  his  reach,  he  has  reason 
to  rejoice  that  his  soil  was  so  constituted  as  to  be  preserved  from 
the  effects  of  the  improvidence  of  his  forefathers,  who  would  have 
worn  out  any  land  not  almost  indestructible.  The  presence  of 
acid,  by  restraining  the  productive  powers  of  the  soil,  has  in  a 
great  measure  saved  it  from  exhaustion ;  and  after  a  course  of 
cropping  which  would  have  utterly  ruined  soils  much  better  con- 
stituted, the  powers  of  our  acid  land  remain  not  greatly  impaired, 
though  dormant,  and  ready  to  be  called  into  action  by  merely  being 
relieved  of  its  acid  quality.  A  few  crops  will  reduce  a  new  acid 
field  to  so  low  a  rate  of  product,  that  it  scarcely  will  pay  for  its 
cultivation ;  but  no  great  change  is  afterwards  caused,  by  continu- 
ing scourging  tillage  and  grazing,  for  fifty  years  longer.  Thus  our 
acid  soils  have  two  remarkable  and  opposite  qualities,  both  pro- 
ceeding from  the  same  cause  :  they  can  neither  be  enriched  by  ma- 
nure, nor  impoverished  by  cultivation,  to  any  great  extent.  Quali- 
ties so  remarkable  deserve  all  our  powers  of  investigation ;  yet 
their  very  frequency  seems  to  have  caused  them  to  be  overlooked ; 
and  our  writers  on  agriculture  have  continued  to  urge  those  who 
seek  improvement  to  apply  precepts  drawn  from  English  authors, 
to  soils  which  are  totally  different  from  all  those  for  which  their 
instructions  were  intended.* 

[*  Confirmatory  testimony. — Professor  Johnston  affirms  that  lime  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  fertility  of  soils,  as  I  have  done.  But  he  goes  still  farther 
than  what  is  true,  at  least  as  to  America,  in  the  following  passage:  "  The 
results  of  all  the  analyses  hitherto  made  of  soils  naturally  fertile,  show 
that  lime  is  universally  present.  The  percentage  of  lime  in  a  soil  may  be 
very  small,  yet  it  can  always  be  detected  when  valuable  and  healthy  crops 
will  grow  upon  it.     Thus  the  fertile  soil  of  the 


TESTIMONY   OP  J.    C.    LOUDON  91 

Marsh  lands  of  Ilolstein  contains  0.2  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. 

Salt  marsh  in  East  Friesland    .     0.G         "  " 

Rich  pasture  near  Durham      .     1.81  "  " 

But  though  the  percentage  of  lime  in  these  cases  appears  small,  the  ab- 
solute quantity  of  lime  present  in  the  land  is  still  large.  Thus,  suppose 
the  first  of  these  soils,  which  contains  the  least,  to  be  only  six  inches  deep, 
and  each  cubic  foot  to  weigh  only  80  lbs. — it  would  contain  about  3500  lbs. 
of  carbonate  of  lime  to  every  acre." — Though  the  author  at  first  speaks  of 
'•  /inn'"  as  universally  present  in  very  fertile  soils,  it  is  clear,  from  the  con- 
text, that  he  meant  carbonate  of  lime..  In  succeeding  passages  lie  claims 
the  presence  of  lime  in  all  producing  soils,  upon  the  same  grounds  that  I 
did,  viz. :  the  presence  of  lime  in  all  ashes  of  plants.  (Johnston's  Lectures, 
pp.  378-9.) 

It.is  interesting  to  compare  this  recent  admission  of  Johnston,  of  even 
more  than  I  claimed  (or  would  admit),  and  the  now  general  acceptation  of 
the  true  doctrine,  with  the  following  expressions  of  the  late  J.  C.  Loudon, 
perhaps  then  the  highest  agricultural  authority  in  England,  if  not  in  all 
Europe.  Both  the  passages  were  editorial,  in  his  "Gardener's  Magazine" 
for  1836.  The  first  is  part  of  a  short  notice  of  the  first  edition  of  this 
essay  (of  1832),  which  had  been  "pirated,"  garbled,  and  disguised  by  the 
editor  of  the  "British  Farmer's  Magazine,"  and  so  published,  as  if  a  com- 
munication to  that  periodical.  In  this  notice  Mr.  Loudon  copies  the  heads 
of  my  five  propositions,  and  says — "  These  propositions  contain  the  mar- 
row of  the  Essay,  which  is  closely  reasoned,  and  in  several  particulars 
original.  Mr.  Ruffin  has  the  merit  of  first  pointing  out  that  there  can.  be 
no  such  thing  as  naturally  fertile  soil  without  the  presence  of  calcareous 
earth  ;  but  where  this  earth  is  present,  the  soil,  however  exhausted  it  may 
have  been  by  culture,  will,  when  left  to  itself,  after  a  time  regain  its  origi- 
nal fertility  ;  that  soils  which  contain  no  calcareous  earth  are  never  found 
naturally  fertile,  ....  and  that  all  that  art  can  do  to  them,  exclusive  of 
adding  calcareous  earth,  is  to  force  crops  by  putrescent  manures  ;  but  that 
when  these  manures  are  withheld,  the  soil  will  speedily  revert  to  its  origi- 
nal sterility.  Mr.  Ruffin  observes  that  no  agricultural  or  chemical  writer 
ever  denied  these  facts ;  but,  he  asserts,  and  we  think  u-iih  truth,  that  by 
not  one  of  them  have  they  ever  been  distinctly  stated.  We  are  not  quite 
certain  as  to  Grisenthwaite,  but  we  are  so  as  to  Kirwan,  Dundonald,  Davy, 
Chaptal,  and  other  agricultural  chemists  of  the  continent.  ...  It  is  due  to 
Mr.  Ruffin  to  state  it  as  our  opinion,  that  he  has  performed  a  very  important 
service  to  the  scientific  agriculturist  in  this  country,  as  well  as  in  America." 

And  again,  in  a  subsequent  long  editorial  article,  noticing  all  the  im- 
portant and  valuable  discoveries  or  new  improvements  in  agriculture  during 
the  preceding  year,  Mr.  Loudon  says — 

"  In  agricultural  science,  the  only  point  that  we  can  recollect  worthy  of 
notice,  that  has  occurred  during  the  past  year,  is  the  advancement  of  the 
principle  by  the  American  agricultural  writer,  Mr.  Ruffin,  that  no  soil 
whatever  will  continue  fertile  for  any  length  of  time  that  does  not  contain 
calcareous  matter.  This  we  believe  was  never  distinctly  stated  as  a  prin- 
ciple by  Kirwan,  Chaptal,  Davy,  or  any  other  European  chemist  or  agri- 
culturist. "—1849.  ] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    MODE    OF    OPERATION    BY    WHICH    CALCAREOUS    EARTII    IN- 
CREASES THE  FERTILITY  AND  PRODUCTIVENESS  OF  .TOILS. 

Proposition  3. —  The  fertilizing  effects  of  calcareous  earth  are 
chiefly  produced  by  its  power  of  neutralizing  acids,  and  ofcom- 

bining putrescent  manures  with  soils,  between  which  there  ttould 
otherwise  bh  but  little,  if  any,  chemical  attraction. 
Proposition  4. — Poor  and  acid  soils  cannot  be  improved  chirably, 
or  profitably,  by  putrescent  manures,  without  previously  making 

them  calcareous,  and  thereby  correcting  the  defect  in  their  con- 
stitution. 

It  has  already  been  made  evident  that  the  presence  of  calcareous 
earth  [in  small  proportion,  or  not  in  too  great  excess],  in  a  natural 
soil,  causes  great  and  durable  fertility.  But  it  still  remains  to  be 
determined,  to  -what  properties  of  this  earth  its  peculiar  fertilizing 
effects  are  to  be  attributed. 

Chemistry  has  taught  that  silicious  earth,  in  any  state  of  divi- 
sion, attracts  but  slightly,  if  at  all,  any  of  the  parts  of  putrescent 
animal  and  vegetable  matters.*  But  even  if  any  slight  attraction 
really  exists  when  this  earth  is  minutely  divided  for  experiment  in 
the  laboratory  of  the  chemist,  it  cannot  be  exerted  by  silicious 
sand  in'  the  usual  form  in  which  nature  gives  it  to  soils  ;  that  is, 
in  particles  comparatively  coarse,  loose,  and  open,, and  yet  each 
particle  impenetrable  to  any  licpoid,  or  gaseous  fluid,  that  might  be 
passing  through  the  vacancies.  Hence,  silicious  earth  can  have 
no  power,  chemical  or  mechanical,  either  to  attract  enriching 
manures,  or  to  preserve  them  when  actually  placed  in  contact  and 
intermixed  with  them ;  and  soils  in  which  the  qualities  of  this 
earth  greatly  predominate,  must  give  out  freely  all  enriching  mat- 
ters which  they  may  have  received,  not  only  to  a  growing  crop,  but 
to  the  sun,  air,  and  water,  so  as  soon  to  lose  the  whole.  No  por- 
tion of  putrescent  matter  can  remain  longer  than  the  completion 
of  its  decomposition ;  and  if  not  arrested  during  this  process,  by 
the  roots  of  living  plants,  all  will  escape  in  the  form  of  gas  (the 
it  products  of  decomposition),  into  the  air,  without  leaving  a 
trace  of  lasting  improvement.  "With  a  knowledge  of  these  pro- 
perties, we  need  not  resort  to  the  common  opinion  that  manure  is 

*  Davy's  Agr.  Chem.  page  129. 

(92) 


SINKING  OF  MANURES,  THROUGH  SOILS  AND  SUB-SOILS.      93 

lost  by  sinking  through  sandy  soils,  to  account  for  its  usually  rapid 
and  total  disappearance.* 

Aluminous  earth,  by  its  closeness,  mechanically  excludes  thoso 
agents  of  decomposition,  heat,  air,  and  moisture,  which  sand  so 
freely  admits ;  and  therefore  clay  soils,  in  which  this  earth  pre- 
dominates, give  out  manure  much  more  slowly  than  sand,  whether 
for  waste  or.  for  use.  The  practical  effect  of  this  is  universally 
understood — that  clay  soils  retain  manure  much  longer  than  sand, 
but  require  much  heavier  applications  to  show  as  much  effect  early, 
or  at  once.  But  as  this  means  of  retaining  manure  is  altogether 
mechanical,   it  serves   only  to   delay  both  its  use  and  its  waste. 

*  Except  the  very  small  proportions  of  earthy,  saline,  and  metallic  mat- 
ters that  may  be  in  animal  and  vegetable  manures,  the  whole  remainder  of 
their  bulk  (and  the  whole  of  whatever  can  feed  plants)  is  composed  of 
different  elements  which  are  known  only  in  the  forms  of  gases  — into  which 
manures  must  be  finally  resolved,  after  going  through  all  the  various  stages 
of  fermentation  and  decomposition.  So  far  from  sinking  in  the  earth,  if  in 
quantity,  these  final  results  could  not  be  possibly  confined  there,  but  must 
escape  into  the  atmosphere  as  soon  as  they  take  a  gaseous  form,  unless 
immediately  taken  up  by  the  organs  of  growing  plants,  [or  unless  held  by 
the  soil's  absorbing  chemical  power.]  It  is  probable,  however,  that  but  a 
small  portion  of  any  dressing  of  manure  remains  long  enough  in  the  soil 
to  make  this  final  change ;  and  that  nearly  all  of  it  is  used  by  growing 
plants,  during  previous  changes,  or  carried  off  by  air  and  water.  [During 
the  progress  of  the  many  changes  caused  by  fermentation  and  decomposi- 
tion, every  portion  of  the  manure  fit  for  use,  becomes  soluble.  When  in 
the  soluble  state  only,  it  is  ready  for  the  use  of  plants ;  and  if  not  then  so 
used,  is  as  ready  to  be  wasted,  if  the  soil  has  not  enough  of  attracting  and 
combining  power  to  hold  the  soluble  products.  I  infer  that  it  depends 
mainly,  if  not  entirely,  on  the  presence  or  absence  of  such  chemical  power 
in  a  sandy  soil,  with  also  a  sandy  or  other  pervious  sub-soil,  whether  the 
soluble  products  of  putrescent  manures  are  lost  by  sinking.  If  there  is 
not  enough  such  power  in  the  soil — (that  is,  if  it  contains  very  little  lime 
in  any  state) — and  there  is  too  much  manure  in  a  soluble  state  for  the  roots 
of  growing  plants  to  take  up  immediately,  then  the  remainder  will  be  dis- 
solved in  the  first  rain,  and  follow  the  course  of  the  excess  of  water, 
whether  to  flow  off  the  surface,  or  to  sink  deep  into  the  sub-soil.  Of  so 
much  as  thus  sinks,  the  further  decomposition  and  final  conversion  to  gases 
must  be  retarded  by  the  greater  seclusion  from  heat  and  air.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  substance  continues  to  be  soluble,  and  liable  to  be  again  carried 
deeper,  by  successive  heavier  rains,  until,  with  their  excess  of  water,  pene- 
trating to  the  sources  of  springs,  either  temporary  or  permanent,  and  thus 
passing  into  the  streams.  We  know  that  springs  are  thus  supplied  by  the 
rains,  and  that  their  waters  arc  in  many  cases  polluted  by  organic  as  well 
as  mineral  soluble  matters.  This  waste  by  sinking,  even  of  the  fertile 
parts  of  natural  or  unmanurcd  soil,  is  manifest  on  tilled  land  of  which  the 
pervious  sub-soil  needs  and  has  failed  to  receive  drainage.  In  such  cases, 
the  water  below  is  oozing  away  after  every  wet  spell ;  and  sometimes  the 
soil  disappears  as  if  washed  away,  though  having  nearly  a  level  surface. 
The  dark-coloured  organic  ami  alimentary  parts  only  have  been  thus  re- 
moved, leaving  that  which  had  been  soil  as  poor  as  its  sub-soil. — 1849.] 


94   RELATIONS  OF  CLAY  AND  CALX  TO  PUTRESCENT  MANURES. 

Aluminous  earth  also  exerts  some  chemical  power  in  attracting 
and  combining  with  putrescent  manures,  but  too  feebly  to  enable 
a  clay  soil  to  become  rich  by  natural  means.  [For  though  clays 
are  able  to  exert  more  force  than  sands  in  holding  mam:, 
closeness  also  acts  to  deny  admittance  beneath  the  surface  to  the 
enriching  matters  furnished"  by  the  growth  and  dee  nts. 

And  therefore,  before  being  brought  into  cultivation,  a  poor  clay 
soil  would  derive  scarcely  any  benefit  from  its  small  power  of  com- 
bining chemically  with  putrescent  matters.  If  then  it  is  con- 
sidered how  small  is  the  power  of  both  silicious  and  aluminous 
earths  to  receive  and  retain  putrescent  manures,  it  will  cease  to 
cause  surprise  that  such  soils  cannot  be  thus  enriched,  with  profit, 
if  at  all.  It  would  indeed  be  strange  and  unaccountable,  if  earths 
and  soils  thus  constituted  could  be  enriched  by  putrescent  manures 
alone. — 1835.] 

Davy  states  that  both  aluminous  and  calcareous  earth  will  combine 
with  any  vegetable  extract,  so  as  to  render  it  less  soluble  (and  con- 
sequently not  subject  to  the  waste  that  would  otherwise  take  pL 
and  hence  "  that  the  soils  which  contain  most  alumina  and  carbo- 
nate of  lime,  are  those  which  act  with  the  greatest  chemical  energy 
in  preserving  manures."  Here  is  high  authority  for  calcareous 
earth  possessing  the  power  which  my  argument  demands,  but  not 
in  so  great  a  degree  as  I  think  it  deserves.  Davy  apparently  places 
both  earths  in  this  respect  on  the  same  footing,  and  allow 
aluminous  soils  retentive  powers  equal  to  the  calcareous.  But 
though  he  gives  evidence  (from  chemical  experiments)  of  this 
power  in  both  earths,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  investigated  the 
difference  of  their  forces.  Nor  could  he  deem  it  very  important, 
holding  the  opinion  which  he  elsewhere  expresses,  that  calcareous 
earth  acts  "  merely  by  forming  a  useful  earthy  ingredient  in  the 
soil,"  and  consequently  attributing  to  it  no  remarkable  chemical 
effects  as  a  manure.  I  shall  offer  some  reasons  for  believing  that 
the  powers  of  attracting  and  retaining  manure,  possessed  by  these 
two  earths,  differ  greatly  in  their  degrees  of  force. 

The  aluminous  and  calcareous  soils  of  this  country,  through  the 
whole  of  their  virgin  state,  have  had  equal  means  of  receiving 
vegetable  matter;  and  if  their  powers  for  retaining  it  were  nearly 
equal,  so  would  be  their  acquired  fertility.  Instead  of  this,  while 
the  calcareous  soils  have  been  raised  to  the  highest  condition,  many 
of  the  tracts  of  clay  soil  remain  the  poorest  and  most  worthless. 
It  is  true  that  the  one  laboured  under  acidity  from  which  the  other 
was  free.  But  if  we  suppose  nine-tenths  of  the  vegetable  matter 
to  have  been  rendered  useless  by  that  poisonous  quality,  the  re- 
maining tenth,  applied  for  so  long  a  time,  would  have  made  fertile 
any  soil  that  had  the  power  to  retain  the  enriching  matter. 

[Many  kinds  of  shells  are  partly  composed  of  gelatinous  animal 


MODE   OP   OPERATION   OF   CALX   AS   MANURE.  95 

matter,  which,  I  suppose,  must  be  chemically  combined  with  the 
calcareous  earth,  and  by  that  means  only  is  preserved  from  the 
putrefaction  and  waste  that  would  otherwise  certainly  and  speedily 
take  place.  Indeed,  the  large  proportion  of  animal  matter  which 
thus  helps  to  constitute  some  kinds  of  shells,  instead  of  making 
them  more  perishable,  serves  to  increase  their  firmness  and  solidity. 
When  long  exposure,  as  in  fossil  shells,  has  destroyed  all  animal 
matter,  the  texture  of  the  calcareous  substance  is  greatly  weakened. 
A  simple  experiment  will  serve  to  separate,  and  make  manifest  to 
the  eye,  the  animal  matter  which  is  thus  combined  with  and  pre- 
served by  the  calcareous  earth.  If  a  fresh-water  mussel-shell  is 
kept  for  some  days  immersed  in  a  weak  mixture  of  muriatic  acid 
and  water,  all  the  calcareous  part  will  be  gradually  dissolved, 
leaving  the  animal  matter  so  entire,  as  to  appear  still  to  be  a  whole 
shell — but  which,  when  lifted  from  the  fluid  which  supports  it, 
will  prove  to  be  entirely  a  flaccid,  gelatinous,  and  putrescent  sub- 
stance, without  a  particle  of  calcareous  matter  being  left.  Yet 
this  substance,  which  is  so  highly  putrescent  when  alone,  would 
have  been  preserved  in  combination  with  calcareous  matter,  in  the 
shell,  for  many  years,  if  exposed  to  the  usual  changes  of  air  and 
moisture ;  and  if  secured  from  such  changes,  would  be  almost  im- 
perishable.— 1835.] 

Calcareous  earth  has  power  to  preserve  those  animal  matters 
which  are  most  liable  to  waste,  and  which  give  to  the  sense  of 
smell  full  evidence  when  they  are  escaping.  Of  this,  a  striking 
example  is  furnished  by  an  experiment  which  was  made  with  care 
and  attention.  The  carcase  of  a  cow,  that  was  killed  by  accident 
in  May,  was  laid  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  covered  with 
about  seventy  bushels  of  finely  divided  fossil  shells  and  earth 
(mostly  silicious),  their  proportions  being  as  thirty-six  of  calcare- 
ous, to  sixty-four  of  silicious  earth.  After  the  rains  had  settled 
the  heap,  it  was  only  six  inches  thick  over  the  highest  part  of  the 
carcass.  The  process  of  putrefaction  was  so  slow,  that  several 
weeks  passed  before  it  was  over ;  nor  was  it  ever  so  violent  as  to 
throw  off  any  effluvia  that  the  calcareous  earth  did  not  intercept 
in  its  escape,  so  that  no  offensive  smell  was  ever  perceived.  In 
October,  the  whole  heap  was  carried  out  and  applied  to  one-sixth 
of  an  acre  of  wheat — and  the  effect  produced  far  exceeded  that  of 
the  like  calcareous  manure  alone,  which  was  applied  at  the  same 
rate  on  the  surrounding  land.  No  such  power  as  this  experiment 
indicated  (and  which  I  have  since  repeated  in  various  modes,  and 
always  with  like  results),  will  be  obtained,  or  expected,  from  using 
clay  as  the  covering  earth. 

Quick-lime  is  used  to  prevent  the  escape  of  offensive  effluvia 
from  animal  matter ;  but  its  operation  is  entirely  different  from 
that  of  calcareous  earth.    The  former  effects  its  object  by  f(  eating" 


96  PRESERVING   AND   FIXING    MANURES. 

or  decomposing  the  animal  substance  (and  nearly  destroying  it  as 
manure),  before  putrefaction  begins.  The  operation  of  calcareous 
earth  is  to  moderate  and  retard,  but  not  to  prevent  putrefaction ; 
not  to  destroy  the  animal  matter,  but  to  preserve  it  effectually,  by 
forming  new  combinations  with  the  products  of  putrefaction.  This 
important  operation  will  be  treated  of  more  fully  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

The  power  of  calcareous  earth  to  combine  with  and  retain  putres- 
cent manure,  implies  the  power  of  fixing  them  in  any  soil  to 
which  both  are  applied.  The  same  power  will  be  equally  exerted 
if  the  putrescent  manure  is  applied  to  a  soil  which  had  previously 
been  made  calcareous,  whether  by  nature,  or  by  art.  "When  a 
chemical  combination  is  formed  between  the  two  kinds  of  manure, 
the  one  is  necessarily  as  much  fixed  in  the  soil  as  the  other. 
Neither  air,  sun  or  rain,  can  then  waste  the  putrescent  manure,  be- 
cause neither  can  take  it  from  the  calcareous  earth,  with  which  it  - 
is  chemically  combined.  Nothing  can  effect  the  separation  of  the 
parts  of  this  compound  manure,  except  the  attractive  power  or 
growing  plants — which,  as  all  experience  shows,  will  draw  their 
food  from  this  combination  as  fast  as  they  require  it,  and  as  easily 
as  from  sand.  The  means  then  by  which  calcareous  earth  acts  as 
an  improving  manure  are,  completely  preserving  putrescent  manures 
from  waste,  and  yielding  them  freely  for  use.  These  particular 
benefits,  however  great  they  may  be,  cannot  be  seen  very  quickly 
after  a  soil  is  made  calcareous,  but  will  increase  with  time,  and, 
with  the  means  for  obtaining  vegetable  matters,  until  their  accu- 
mulation is  equal  to  the  soil's  power  of  retention.  The  kind,  or 
the  source,  of  enriching  manure,  docs  not  alter  the  process  de- 
scribed. The  natural  growth  of  the  soil,  left  to  die  and  rot,  or 
other  putrescent  manures  collected  and  applied,  would  alike  bo 
seized  by  the  calcareous  earth,  and  fixed  in  the  soil. 

This,  the  most  important  and  valuable  operation  of  calcareous 
earth,  then  gives  nothing  to  the  soil;  but  only  secures  other  ma- 
nures, and  gives  them  wholly  to  the  soil.  In  this  respect,  the 
action  of  calcareous  earth  in  fixing  manures  in  soils,  is  precisely 
like  that  of  mordants  in  "setting"  or  fixing  colours  on  cloth. 
When  alum,  for  example,  is  used  by  the  dyer  for  this  purpose,  it 
adds  not  the  slightest  tint  of  itself — but  it  holds  to  the  cloth,  and 
also  to  the  otherwise  fleeting  dye,  and  thus  fixes  them  permanently 
together.  Without  the  mordant,  the  colour  might  have  becu 
equally  vivid,  but  would  be  lost  by  the  first  wetting  of  the  cloth. 

[Thus,  reasoning  a  priori  from  that  chemical  power  possessed 
by  calcareous  earth,  which  is  wanting  to  both  sandy  and  clayey 
earths,  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  calcareous  earth  serves  to 
combine  putrescent  matters  with  the  soil  in  general ;  and  the 
known  results  of  fertility  being  therein  so  fixed,  might  serve  for 


NEUTRALIZING   ACIDS   IN    SOILS.  97 

the  like  proof,  even  without  the  other  course  of  reasoning.  There 
is  still  another  proof  of  this  combination  being  formed,  which  is  ob- 
tained by  a  chemical  process,  but  which  is  so  simple  that  no  chemi- 
cal science  is  requisite  to  make  the  trial. 

If  a  specimen  of  any  naturally  poor  soil,  after  being  dried  and 
reduced  to  powder,  be  agitated  in  a  vessel  of  water  (as  a  common 
drinking  glass),  and  then  allowed  to  stand  still,  the  coarser  sili- 
cious  sand  will  subside  first,  the  finer  sand  next,  and  last  the  clay. 
In  this  manner,  and  by  pouring  ofi*  the  lighter  parts,  before  their 
subsidence,  it  is  very  easy  to  separate  with  sufficient  accuracy  the 
sand  from  the  clay.  But  if  a  specimen  of  a  good  rich  neutral  soil 
be  tried  in  that  manner,  it  will  be  found  that  the  finest  sand  and 
the  clay  and  putrescent  matter  hold  together  so  closely  that  they 
cannot  be  separated  by  mere  agitation  in  water.  Then  take  another 
sample  of  the  same  soil,  and  pour  to  it  a  small  quantity  of  diluted 
muriatic  acid;  and  though  no  effervescence  is^produced  (the  lime 
not  being  in  the  form  of  carbonate),  the  acid  will  take  away  the 
lime,  or  destroy  its  combination  with  the  other  earths,  so  that  the 
sand  and  the  clay  may  then  be  separated  by  agitation  in  water,  as 
perfectly  and  easily  as  in  the  case  of  the  poorest  soils.  This  dif- 
ference between  good  and  bad  soils  (whether  light  or  stiff),  or  those 
naturally  rich  and  those  naturally  poor,  cannot  escape  the  observa- 
tion of  the  young  experimenter;  and  the  cause  can  be  no  other 
than  what  I  have  supposed.  This  then  serves  as  the  third  mode 
of  proof  of  the  important  position,  that  calcareous  earth  (or  lime 
in  some  other  form)  not  only  combines  with  vegetable  and  animal 
matters,  but  also  serves  (as  a  connecting  link)  to  combine  these 
matters  with  the  sand  and  clay  of  the  soil. — 1842.] 

The  next  most  valuable  property  of  calcareous  manures  for  the 
improvement  of  soil  is  their  poiccr  of  neutral izdng  acids,  which 
has  already  been  incidentally  brought  forward  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  According  to  the  views  already  presented,  even  our 
poorest  cultivated  soils  contain  more  vegetable  matter  than  they 
can  beneficially  use ;  and  when  first  cleared,  they  have  it  in  great 
excess.  So  antiseptic  is  the  acid  quality  of  poor  woodland,  that 
before  the  crop  of  leaves  of  one  year  can  entirely  rot,  two  or  three 
others  will  have  fallen ;  and  there  are  always  enough,  at  any  one 
time,  to  greatly  enrich  the  soil,  if  the  leaves  could  be  rotted  and 
fixed  in  it  at  once. 

[This  alleged  antiseptic  effect  of  vegetable  acid  in  our  soils  re- 
ceives strong  support  from  the  facts  established  with  regard  to  peat 
soils,  in  which  vegetable  acids  have  been  discovered  by  chemical 
analysis ;  and  though  the  peat  or  moss  soils  of  Britain  differ 
entirely  from  any  soils  in  eastern  Virginia  (except  that  of  the 
great  Dismal  Swamp,  the  only-extensive  peat  bog  known),  still  some 
facts  relating  to  the  former  class  may  throw  light  on  the  properties 
9 


98  ALTERING   TEXTURE  AND   ABSORBENCY   OF   SOILS. 

of  our  own  soils,  different  as  they  may  be.  Not  only  does  vegeta- 
ble matter  remain  without  putrefaction  in  peat  soils  and  bogs,  and 
serve  to  increase  their  depth  by  regular  accretions  from  the  succes- 
sive annual  growths,  but  even  the  bodies  of  beasts  and  men  have 
been  found  unchanged  under  peat,  many  years  after  they  had  been 
covered.*  It  is  well  known  that  the  leaves  of  trees  rot  very 
quickly  on  the  rich  lime-stone  soils  of  the  Western  States  (neutral 
soils),  while  the  successive  crops  of  several  years'  growth,  in  the 
different  stages  of  their  slow  decomposition,  may  be  always  found 
on  the  acid  woodland  of  lower  Virginia. 

The  presence  of  acid  in  soils,  by  preventing  or  retarding  putre- 
faction, keeps  the  vegetable  matter  inert,  and«even  hurtful  on  cul- 
tivated land;  and  the  crops  are  still  further  injured  by  taking  up 
this  poisonous  acid  with  their  nutriment.  A  sufficient  quantity 
of  calcareous  earth,  mixed  with  such  a  soil,  will  immediately 
neutralize  the  acid,  and  destroy  its  powers ;  and  the  soil,  released 
from  this  baneful  influence,  will  be  rendered  capable,  for  the  first 
time,  of  using  the  fertility  which  it  really  possessed.  The  benefit 
thus  produced  is  almost  immediate ;  but  though  the  soil  will  show 
a  new  vigour  in  its  earliest  vegetation,  and  may  even  double  its  first 
crop,  yet  no  part  of  that  increased  product  is  due  to  the  direct 
operation  of  the  calcareous  manure,  but  merely  to  the  removal  of 
acidity.  The  calcareous  earth,  in  such  a  case,  has  not  made  the 
soil  richer  in  the  slightest  degree,  but  has  merely  permitted  it  to 
bring  into  use  the  enriching  principles  it  had  before,  and  which 
were  concealed  by  the  acid  character  of  the  soil.  It  will  be  a 
dangerous  error  for  the  farmer  to  suppose  that  calcareous  earth  can 
enrich  soil  by  direct  means.  It  destroys  the  worst  foe  of  produc- 
tiveness, and  uses  to  the  greatest  advantage  the  fertilizing  powers 
of  other  manures ;  but  of  itself  it  gives  no  fertility  to  soils,  nor 
does  it  furnish  the  least  food  to  growing  plants. f 

These  two  kinds  of  action  are  by  far  the  most  powerful  of  the 
means  possessed  by  calcareous  earth  for  fertilizing  soils.  It  has 
another  however  of  great  importance — or  rather  two  others,  which 
may  be  best  described  together  as  the  power  of  altering  the  texture 
and  absorhency  of  soils. 

At  first  it  may  seem  impossible  that  the  same  manure  can  pro- 
duce such  opposite  effects  on  soils  as  to  lessen  the  faults  of  being 
either  too  sandy  or  too  clayey — and  the  evils  occasioned  by  both 
the  want  and  the  excess  of  moisture.     Contradictory  as  this  may 

*  See  Aiton's  Essay  on  Moss  Earth,  republished  in  Farmers'  Register, 
vol.  v.,  p.  462. 

[f  Confirmation. — Lime  "neutralizes  acid  substances,  which  are  naturally 
formed  in  the  soil,  and  decomposes  or  renders  harmless  other  noxious  com- 
pounds -which  are  not  unfrequcntly  within  reach  of  the  roots  of  plants."' 
Johnston's  Agr.  Chem.  p.  400.] 


ALTERING   TEXTURE   AND   ABSORBENCY   OP   SOILS.  99 

appear,  it  is  strictly  true  as  to  calcareous  earth.  In  common  with 
clay,  calcareous  earth  possesses  the  power  of  making  sandy  soils 
more  close  and  firm — and  in  common  with  sand,  the  power  of 
making  clay  soils  lighter,  or  more  open  and  mellow.  When  sand 
and  clay  thus  alter  the  textures  of  soils,  their  operation  is  alto- 
gether mechanical ;  but  calcareous  earth  must  exert  chemical 
action  in  producing  such  effects,  as  its  power  is  very  far  greater 
than  that  of  either  sand  or  clay.  A  very  great  quantity  of  clay 
would  be  required  to  stiffen  a  sandy  soil  perceptibly,  and  still  more 
sand  would  be  necessary  to  make  a  clay  soil  much  lighter — so  that 
the  cost  of  such  improvement  would  generally  exceed  the  benefit 
obtained.  Far  greater  effects  on  the  texture  of  soils  are  derived 
from  much  less  quantities  of  calcareous  earth,  besides  obtaining 
the  more  valuable  operation  of  its  other  powers.* 

Every  substance  that  is  open  enough  for  air  to  enter,  and  the 
particles  of  which  are  not  absolutely  impenetrable,  must  absorb 
moisture  from  the  atmosphere.  Aluminous  earth,  reduced  to  an 
impalpable  powder,  has  strong  absorbing  powers.  But  this  is  not 
the  form  in  which  such  soils  can  act — and  a  close  and  solid  clay 
will  scarcely  admit  the  passage  of  air  or  water,  and  therefore  can- 
not absorb  much  moisture  except  by  its  surface.  Through  sandy 
soils,  the  air  passes  freely ;  but  most  of  its  particles  are  impene- 
trable by  moisture,  and  therefore  these  soils  are  also  extremely 
deficient  in  absorbent  power.  Calcareous  earth,  by  rendering  clay 
more  open  to  the  entrance  of  air,  and  closing  partially  the  too 
open  pores  of  sandy  soils,  increases  the  absorbent  powers  of  both. 
To  increase  that  power  in  any  soil,  is  to  enable  it  to  draw  supplies 
of  moisture  from  the  air,  in  the  dryest  weather,  and  to  resist  more 
strongly  the  waste  by  evaporation  of  light  rains.  A  calcareous 
soil  will  so  quickly  absorb  a  hasty  shower  of  rain  as  to  appear  to 
have  received  less  than  adjoining  land  of  different  character ;  and 
yet  if  observed  in  summer,  when  under  tillage,  some  days  after  a 
rain,  and  when  other  adjacent  land  appears  dry  on  the  surface,  the 
part  made  calcareous  will  still  show  the  moisture  to  be  yet  remain- 
ing, by  its  darker  colour.  All  the  effects  from  this  power  of  calca- 
reous manures  may  be  observed  within  a  few  years  after  their  ap- 
plication— though  none  of  them  so  strongly  marked,  as  they  are 
on  lands  made  calcareous  by  nature,  and  in  which  time  has  aided 
and  perfected  the  operation.  These  soils  present  great  variety  in 
their  proportions  of  sand  and  clay  ;  yet  the  most  clayey  is  friable 
enough,  and  the  most  sandy  firm  and  close  enough,  to  be  considered 
soils  of  good  texture ;  and  they  resist  the  extremes  of  both  wet 

[*  Professor  Johnston   confirms   this   remarkable  power  of  calcareous 
'  manures  to  make  clay  soils  lighter,  and  light  soils  more  close ;  but  (strangely- 
enough),  ascribes  these  opposite  operations  to  the  physical  or  mechanical 
action  of  lime.  (P.  400,  Agr.  Chem.)— 1849.] 


100  LIME  AS  FOOD  FOR  PLANTS. 

and  dry  seasons,  better  than  any  other  soils  whatever.  Time,  and 
the  increase  of  vegetable  matter,  will  bring  those  qualities  to  the 
same  perfection  in  soils  made  calcareous  by  artificial  means,  as 
they  are  in  soils  made  calcareous  by  nature. 

The  subsequent  gradual  accumulation  of  vegetable  or  other 
putrescent  matter  in  the  soil,  by  the  combining  or  fixing  power 
of  calcareous  earth,  must  have  yet  another  beneficial  effect  on 
vegetation.  The  soil  is  thereby  made  darker  in  colour,  and  it  con- 
sequently is  made  warmer,  by  more  freely  absorbing  the  rays  of 
the  sun.  [This  must  cause  earlier  ripening  of  all  the  vegetable 
growths.] 

[There  is  another  power  or  function  of  lime  in  soil,  indispensa- 
ble to  the  perfection,  healthy  growth,  and  perhaps  even  to  the  ex- 
istence of  every  plant ;  and  which  has  already  been  considered  as 
a  proof  of  neutral  soils.  This  is  to  supply,  through  the  roots,  to 
every  growing  plant  some  lime  in  soluble  state  which  will  remain 
fixed  in  the  plant.  This  quantity  varies  with  the  kind  of  plant, 
and  its  wants  in  different  stages  of  growth  ;  and  however  varying 
in  different  kinds  of  plants,  even  when  most  abundant,  it  is  always 
very  small  in  proportion  to  the  other  (organic)  matters  taken  up 
by  and  retained  in  the  substance  of  plants.  By  reducing  the  plant 
to  ashes  only  can  the  lime  taken  up  by  the  roots  be  found,  and  the 
proportion  to  the  ashes  and  to  the  former  vegetable  substance  be 
known. 

It  may  be  perhaps  deemed  a  contradiction,  or  drawing  a  distinc- 
tion where  there  is  no  real  difference,  to  affirm  the  absolute  necessity 
of  every  plant  receiving  through  its  roots,  a  certain  proportion  of 
lime,  however  minute,  and  yet  denying  that  lime  serves  as  food  for 
plants.  I  admit  the  difficulty  of  clearly  discriminating  by  defini- 
tion between  the  two  functions.  Still,  there  is  great  difference 
between  the  manner  and  results  of  the  supply  of  lime  to  plants, 
and  of  the  aliment  which  they  draw  from  putrescent  manures, 
humus,  or  other  soluble  organic  matter.  According  to  the  quantity 
of  soluble  putrescent  manure  supplied  to  or  naturally  in  a  soil 
(unless  so  enormous  as  to  be  hurtful),  so  will  be  the  quantity  of 
the  earliest  vegetable  growth  thereon.  But  if  a  soil  has  been  so 
moderately  supplied  with  lime,  as  to  be  barely  rendered  neutral, 
the  subsequent  addition  of  any  greater  quantity  of  lime  will  add 
nothing  directly,  or  speedily,  to  the  production  of  grain  or  other 
ordinary  crops — nor  to  the  quautity  of  lime  taken  up  by  the  whole 
of  such  succeeding  growth.  If  a  soil  so  destitute  of  organic  mat- 
ter— such  as  is  recognised  by  all  as  furnishing  food  to  plants — as 
to  be  nearly  barren,  is  supplied  properly  and  profusely  with  putres- 
cent manures,  the  next  growth  of  vegetables  may  be  remarkable 
for  luxuriance  and  heavy  product.  But  if  this  rich  supply  of  food 
had  been  entirely  withheld,  and  lime  or  calcareous  earth  given 


SPECIFIC   MANURE   FOR   CERTAIN   KINDS   OF  PLANTS.       101 

instead,  in  any  quantity,  either  a  very  slight  increase  of  productive 
power,  or  none  at  all,' would  be  shown  in  the  next  immediately 
succeeding  attempt  to  produce  a  crop  thereon.  Whether  then  it  be 
correct  to  consider  lime  as  food  for  plants,  or  not,  it  is  all-important 
that  farmers  should  act,  in  applying  calcarqpus  manures,  as  if  they 
thereby  furnished  no  food  whatever  to  plants  in  the  direct  manner 
that  is  done  by  dung.  And  great  as  is  this  error  of  the  opposite 
opinion,  it  has  had  extensive  influence  and  very  injurious  conse- 
quences. In  the  greater  number  of  cases,  where  ignorant  farmers 
have  just  arrived  at  the  before  unknown  truth  that  calcareous  ma- 
nures are  of  benefit  to  crops  and  land,  they  proceed  immediately 
to  the  false  conclusion  that  they  will  produce  benefit  in  the  same 
manner  as  putrescent  manures ;  and  they  apply  them  by  the  same 
rules  and  to  similar  soils,  in  the  vain  expectation  of  in  like  manner 
supplying  food  to  the  crops.  Such  course  can  result  only  in  dis- 
appointment and  loss  of  means,  if  not  injury  to  the  land. 

As  has  been  stated,  all  known  plants,  not  excepting  the  acid 
kinds,  contain  some  lime,  and  therefore  it  may  safely  be  assumed 
that  some  lime  is  indispensable  to  the  growth  of  every  plant,  and 
to  even  the  lowest  productive  power  of  every  soil.  But,  for  the 
greater  number  of  plants,  the  quantity  of  lime  required  is  so  ex- 
ceedingly small,  that  they  readily  obtain  their  needed  supplies  from 
soils  the  least  supplied  by  nature  with  lime.  And  many  plants 
(like  pines  and  sorrel)  prefer  the  soils  having  such  scant  supply 
of  lime  as  to  permit  an  excess  of  acid.  Other  plants  require  com- 
paratively large  supplies,  such  as  clover,  and  all  other  of  the  legu- 
minous or  pea  tribe.  The  ashes  of  these  plants  contain  compara- 
tively very  large  proportions  of  lime.  Red  clover,  lucerne,  and 
still  more  sainfoin,  cannot  thrive  well,  except  on  soils  largely  sup-  ! 
plied  with  lime  in  some  state ;  though,  for  most  of  such  plants, 
perhaps  a  rich  neutral  soil  will  offer  the  requisite  supplies  of  lime 
as  well  as  if  calcareous,  or  containing  carbonate  of  lime.  Among 
trees,  locust,  papaw,  and  hackberry  (or  sugar  nut),  are  also  plants 
to  which  lime  in  considerable  quantity  in  the  soil  is  essential.  For 
all  such  plants,  lime  is  a  specific  manure;  that  is,  it  improves 
their  growth  in  a  peculiar  and  remarkable  degree,  though  none  of 
them  can  take  up  into  their  bodies  more  than  a  very  small  amount 
of  lime. 

The  following  list,  showing  the  proportions  of  lime  in  many 
cultivated  plants,  is  extracted  and  abridged  from  the  late  publica- 
tion of  Johnston,  who  copied  the  analyses  of  Sprengel.  The 
quantities  of  pure  lime  are  here  understood,  without  reference  to 
the  acid  (or  its  kind)  with  which  the  lime  was.  combined.  1000 
parts  in  each  case  of  the  dry  vegetable  matters  are  supposed  to  be 
burnt  to  ashes,  and  the  weights  of  ashes,  and  of  the  pure  lime 
they  contain,  arc  only  stated. 
9* 


102 


LIME   IN   ASHES   OF   VARIOUS   PLANTS. 


Mm  a*,  of 


Grain  of  wheat 

of  -wheat 

Grain  of  barley     .     .    % 

.Straw  of  barley 

Grain  of  oats 

Straw  of  oats 

Grain  of  rye 

Straw  of  rye 

Field  bean  seed 

Do.         straw 

Field  peas  (English) 

Do.         straw 

Common  vetch  seed  (cicia  sativa)  [our  part- 
ridge pea?] 

.me 

Rye  grass 

Red  elver 

White  clover 

Lucerne  

in 


tal  of 

Of  wb: 

ashes. 

is  lim 

11.77 

35.19 

2.40 

23.49 

1.08 

52.42 

- 

57.5 

1.62 

10.5 

1.22 

-- 

1.78 

21.30 

1.65 

81.21 

<;.24 

24.64 

40.71 

27.30 

29.9 

1.60 

51.1 

19.51 

52 

7.34 

27 

91.32 

23.48 

95.53 

—1-49.] 

Additional  and  practical  proofs  of  all  these  powers  of  calcareous 
earth  will  he  furnished,  when  its  use  and  effects  as  manure  will  he 
stated.  I  am  persuaded,  however,  that  enough  has  already  heen 
said  both  to  establish  and  account  for  the  different  capacities  of 
soils  for  improvement  by  putrescent  manures.  If  the  power  of 
fixing  manures  in  soils  has  been  correctly  ascribed  to  calcareous 
earth,  that  alone  is  enough  to  show  that  soils  containing  that  in- 
gredient, in  proper  quantities,  must  become  rich;  and  that  alumi- 
nous and  silieious  earths  mixed  in  any  proportions,  and  even  with 

.; table  or  other  putrescent  matter  added,  can  never  form  other 
than  a  sterile  soil.* 


[*  The  several  peculiar  or  stronger  powers  for  increasing  fertility  and 
production  ascribed  above  to  calcareous  earth  in  soil,  are  those  which  were 
presented  to  my  mind  either  in  advance  of  all  practical  applications  of  the 
earth   as  manure,   or  otherwise  were  the  results   of    actual   observation 
within  a  few  years  after  the   commencement.     The  chemical   laws    and 
agencies  were  of  course  gathered  from  books.     The    confirmatory  facts 
were  mostly  found  in  my  observation  of  the  characters  of  natural  soils,  and 
in  the  earliest  results  of  my  calcareous  manurings.     It  is  not  nece- 
here,  and  would  scarcely  be  proper,  to  adduce  other  powers  of  calcar- 
manures,  learned  from  much  later  practical  results,  or  which  have  si 
been  presented  by  later  and  much  more  scientific  investigators.     Sundry 
other  useful  and  some  very  important  agencies  of  calcareous  earth  in 
may  be  seen  in  the   "Lectures  on   the  Applications  of   Chemistry    and 
Geology  to  Agriculture."  by  J.  F.  W.  Johnston.     It  is  gratifying  to  me, 
that  this  author  in  most  respects  sustains  my  doctrine ;  though  in  - 
points  we  are  entirely  opposed.     These  different.  I  hn- 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ACTION    OF   CAUSTIC    LIME   AS    MANURE. 

The  object  of  this  essay  is  to  treat  only  of  calcareous  earth  (as 
before  defined)  as  a  manure,  and  not  of  pure  caustic  lime,  nor  of 
manures  in  general.  Still  the  nature  of  that  which  is  properly  my 
subject  is  so  intimately  connected  with  some  other  kinds  of  manures, 
and  is  so  liable  to  be  confounded  with  others  which  act  very  dif- 
ferently, that  frequent  references  to  both  classes  have  been  and 
will  be  again  necessary.  To  make  such  references  more  plain  and 
useful,  some  general  remarks  and  opinions  will  now  be  submitted, 
as  to  the  peculiar  modes  of  the  operation  of  various  manures,  and 
particularly  of  lime. 

Until  now  I  have  been  careful  to  say  as  little  as  possible  ofjnu-e 
or  qttick-Iime,  for  fear  of  my  meaning  being  mistaken,  from  the 
usual  practice  of  confounding  it  with  calcareous  earth ;  or  of  con- 
sidering both  its  first  and  later  operations  as  belonging  to  one  and 
the  same  manure.  The  connexion  between  the  manures  is  so  inti- 
mate, and  yet  their  actions  so  distinct,  that  it  is  necessary  to  mark 
the  points  of  resemblance  as  well  as  those  of  difference. 

My  own  use  of  quick  or  caustic  lime  as  a  manure  has  not  ex- 
tended beyond  a  few  acres ;  and  I  do  not  pretend  to  know  any- 
thing from  experience  of  its  first  or  caustic  effects.  But  Davy's 
simple  and  beautiful  theory  of  its  operation  carries  conviction  with 
it,  and  in  accordance  with  his  opinions  I  shall  state  the  theory,  and 
thence  attempt  to  deduce  its  proper  practical  use. 

By  a  sufficient  degree  of  heat,  the  carbonic  acid  is  driven  off 
from  shells,  lime-stone,  or  chalk,  and  the  remainder  is  pure  or 
caustic  lime.  In  this  state  it  has  a  powerful  decomposing  power 
on  all  putrescent  animal  and  vegetable  matters,  which  it  exerts  on 
every  such  substance  in  the  soils  to  which  it  is  applied  as  manure. 
If  the  lime  thus  meets  with  solid  and  inert  vegetable  matters,  it 
hastens  their  decomposition,  renders  them  soluble,  and  brings  them 
into  use  and  action  as  manure.  But  such  vegetable  and  animal 
matters  as  were  already  decomposed,  and  fit  to  support  growing 
plants,  are  injured  by  the  addition  of  lime;  as  the  chemical  action 

portant  of  other  operations  and  values  of  calcareous  manures  which  he  pre- 
sents, -will  be  brought  in  view,  and  considered,  at  a  later  part  of  this 
essay.  Other  passages  confirming  my  opinions  previously  advanced,  have 
been  or  Trill  be  quoted  in  notes. — 1849.] 

(103) 


j 


104  QUICK-LIME   AS   MANURE. 

•which  takes  place  between  these  bodies  forms  different  eojupoan 
which  are  always  less  valuable  than  the  putrid  or  soluble  matters 
were,  before  being  acted  on  by  the  lime.* 

This  theory  will  direct  us  to  expect  profit  from  applying  caustic 
lime  to  all  soils  containing  much  unrotted  and  inert  vegetable 
matter,  as  our  acid  wood -land  when  first  cleared,  and  perhaps  worn 
fields,  covered  with  broomgrass ;  and  to  avoid  the  application  of 
Hme^or  (what  is  the  same  thing)  to  destroy  previously  its  caustic 
quality  by  exposure  to  the  airy  for  all  good  soils  containing  soluble 
vegetable  or  animal  matters,  and  on  all  poor  soils  deficient  in  inert, 
as  well  as  in  active  nourishment  for  plants.  The  warmth  of  our 
climate  so  much  aids  the  fermentation  of  all  putrescent  matters  in 
soils,  that  it  can  seldom  be  required  to  hasten  it  by  artificial  nieans.J^r 
To  check* its  rapidity  is  much  more  necessary,  to  avoid  the  wa-- 
of  manures  in  our  lands.     But  in  Engl:  -:;11  more  in  Sc    - 

land,  the  case  is  very  different.     There,  the  t  nd  moisture 

of  the  climate  greatly  retard  the  fermentation  of  the  vegetable 
matter  that  falls  on  the  land ;  so  much  so  that,  in  certain  situa- 
tions, the  most  favourable  to  such  results,  the  vegetable  cover  is 
increased  by  the  deposit  of  every  successive  year,  and  forms  those 
vegetable  soils  which  are  called  moor,  peat,  and  bog  lands.  Vege- 
table matter  abounds  in  these  soils,  and  sometimes  it  even  forms 
the  greater  bulk  for  many  feet  in  depth ;  but  it  is  inert,  insoluble, 
and  useless,  and  the  soil  is  unable  to  bring  any  useful  crop,  though 
containing  vegetable  matter  in  such  great  excess.  Manj  millions 
of  acres  in  Britain  are  of  the  different  grades  of  peat  soils,  of 
■which  almost  none  exist  in  the  eastern  half  of  Virginia.  Upon 
this  ground  of  the  difference  of  climate,  and  its  effects  on  ferment- 
ation, I  deduce  the  opinion  that  caustic  lime  would  be  serviceable 
much  more  generally  in  Britaiu  than  here ;  and  indeed  that  there 
are  very  few  cases  in  which  the  caustic  quality  would  not  do  our 
arable  lands  more  harm  than  good.  This  is  no  contradiction  to 
the  great  improvements  which  have  been  made  on  many  farms  by 
applying  linie ;  for  its  caustic  quality  -was  seldom  allowed  to  act  at 
all.  Lime  is  continually  changing  to  the  carbonate  of  lime ;  and, 
in  practice,  no  exact  line  of  separation  can  be  drawn  between  the 
transient  effects  of  the  one,  and  the  later,  but  durable  improve- 
ment from  the  other.  Lime  powerfully  attracts  the  carbonic  acid 
of  which  it  was  deprived  by  heat,  and  that  acid  is  universally  dif- 
fused through  the  atmosphere  (though  in  a  very  small  proportion), 
and  is  produced  by  every  decomposing  putrescent  substance.  Con- 
sequently, caustic  lime,  when  on  land,  is  continually  absorbing 
and  combining  with  this  acid ;  and,  with  more  or  less  rapidity, 
according  to  the  manner  of  its  application,  is  returning  to  its  for- 

*  Davy's  Agr.  Cheni.  Lcct.  vii. 


QUICK-LIME    SOON    CARBONATED.  105 

mcr  state  of  mild  calcareous  earth.  If  spread  as  a  top-dressing 
on  grass  lands — or  on  ploughed  land,  and  superficially  mixed  with 
the  soil  hy  harrowing — or  used  in  composts  with  ferment ing  vege- 
table matter — the  lime  is  probably  completely  carbonated,  before 
its  causticity  can  act  on  the  soil.  In  no  case  can  lime,  applied 
properly  as  manure,  long  remain  caustic  in  the  soil.  Thus  most 
applications  of  lime  are,  in  effect,  and  even  from  the  beginning  of 
the  manuring  action,  simply  applications  of  calcareous  earth;  but 
acting  with  greater  energy  and  power  at  first,  in  proportion  to  the 
quantity,  because  more  finely  divided,  and  more  equally  distributed. 

[Whether  lime,  or  carbonate  of  lime,  or  calcareous  earth,  may 
be  the  term  used  in  reference  to  any  such  manure  used,  or  recom- 
mended, the  general,  most  important,  and  all  effects  other  than 
some  of  the  earliest  and  least  certain  to  occur,  are  the  same  in 
practice  of  all.  The  operation  in  every  case  is  that  of  calxivg.  In 
presenting  the  theory,  and  in  reasoning,  and  instruction,  it  is  im- 
portant to  maintain  the  precise  line  of  separation  and  distinction 
between  the  artificial  product,  quick  or  caustic  lime,  and  the 
naturally  existing  calcareous  earth,  or  carbonate  of  lime.  But  in 
practical  effects  they  are  the  same,  excepting  those  only  which 
may  be  due  to  the  different  early  conditions  of  the  different  sub- 
stances. Therefore,  (always  allowing  for  those  early  and  transient 
and  minor  differences),  whatever  I  may  say  of  the  operation  of 
calcareous  earth  as  manure,  would  as  well  be  produced  by  the  pro- 
per use  of  lime ;  and  whatever  other  writers  on  lime  as  manure 
have  correctly  stated,  even  though  perhaps  designed  by  them  to  be 
confined  to  quick-lime,  would,  as  to  all  abiding  and  important 
effects  and  operations,  apply  as  well  to  mild  and  naturally  existing 
calcareous  earth,  in  any  of  its  various  forms. 

Farther — even  when  the  first  chemical  characters  of  both  caustic 
lime  and  carbonate  of  lime  have  been  altered  in  the  soil,  and  they 
may  hare  become  changed  to  other  salts  of  lime,  by  combining 
with  different  acids  of  soils,  still,  judging  from  all  experienced  and 
abiding  effects,  the  general  and  beneficial  operations  of  the  original 
manures  still  continue.  The  only  known  exception  is,  and  which 
is  abundantly  obvious,  that  the  power,  to  neutralize  acids  has  then 
been  fully  used,  and  cannot  again  be  exercised  by  the  same  lime 
on  any  subsequently  produced  acids. — 1849.]* 

[*  Recent  Confirmation.— Johnston  says—"  The  effects  of  pure  lime  upon 
the  land,  and  upon  vegetation,  are  ultimately  the  same,  whether  it  be  laid  on 

in  a  state  of  hydrate  [or  newly  slaked],  or  of  carbonate." 

"  In  general,  however,  the  chemical  action  of  the  marls  and  calcareous 
sands  is  precisely  the  same  in  kind  as  that  of  lime  in  the  burne->  and  slaked 
state,  and  so  far  the  effects  which  we  have  already  scon  to  be  produced  by 
marls,  represent  also  the  jrcneral  effects  of  lime  in  any  form." — Lectures, 
p.  390.  And  further— "You  may  saiVly  proceed  on  the  principle  that  the 
lime  in  the  marls,  &c,  will  ultimately  produce  precisely  the  same  effects 


10G 


FORM   OF   CLASSIFICATION    OF   MANURES. 


C       Alimentary,  or  serving  as 
food  for  plants — as 


Solvent  of  alimentary  ma- 
nures— as 


Fixers,  or  Mordants  — 
serving  to  combine  with  or 
set  other  manures  in  soils 
— as 


Neutralizing  acids — as 


Mechanical,  or  improving 
by  altering  the  texture  of 
soil — as 


Specific,  or  furnishing  in- 
gredients necessary  for  par- 
ticular plants — as 


upon  your  land,  as  the  lime  from  the  kiln,  provided  you  lay  on  an  equal 
quantity,  and  in  an  equally  minute  state  of  division.  The  effect  will  only 
be  a  little  more  slow,"  &c. — lb.  p.  887. — 18-H'.] 

[By  adopting  the  views  which  have  been  presented  of  the  action  of  cal- 
careous earth  and  of  lime  as  manures,  and  tlmse  which  are  generally  re- 
ceived as  to  the  modes  of  operation  of  other  manures,  the  following  table 
has  been  constructed,  which  may  be  found  useful,  though  necessarily  imper- 
fect, and  in  part  founded  only  on  conjecture.  The  various  particular  kinds 
of  manures  are  arranged  in  the  supposed  order  of  their  power,  under  the 
several  heads  or  characters  to  which  they  belong :  and  when  one  manure 
possesses  several  different  modes  of  action,  the  comparative  force  of  each  is 
represented  by  the  letters  annexed — the  letter  a  designating  its  strongest 
or  most  valuable  agency,  b  the  next  strongest,  and  so  on  as  to  c  and  d. 

FBOPOSED    CLASSIFICATION    OF    MANTKES. 

[  Feathers,  hair,  woollen  rags, 

Pounded  bones,  (6) 

All   putrescent   animal   and  vegetable 
substances,  as  dung, 
-  Stable  and  farm-yard  manures,  (a) 

.Straw,  (a) 

Green  crops   ploughed   in,    and    dead 
grass   and  weeds  left   on   the    sur- 
face, (a) 
r  Quick-lime,  (a) 

Potash  and  soap  lie,  (a) 

Wood  ashes  not  drawn,  (<7) 

Paring  and  burning  the  surface  of  the 

soil,  (a) 
[  Calcareous  earth,  including 

Lime  become  mild  by  exposure,  (a) 

Chalk,  (a) 

Lime-stone  gravel,  (a) 

Wood  ashes,  (6) 

Fossil  shells  (or  shell  marl),  (a) 

Marl  (a  calcareous  clay),  (a) 

Old  mortar  and  lime  cements. 

All  calcareous  manures,  (b) 

Quick-lime,  (6) 

Potash  and  soap  lie,  (b) 

Wood  ashes,  (c) 

Clay, 

Sand, 

Clay  marl,  (6) 

Fermenting  vegetable  manures,  (b) 

Green  manures,  (b) 

Cnfermeuted  litter,  (b) 
'  Sulphate  of  lime,  or  gypsum  (for  clo- 
ver), 

Gypseous  earTh  (or  green-sand  earth), 
for  clover, 
-|  Calcareous  manures  (for  clover) 

Phosphate  of  lime  (for  wheat)  iu 

Bones,  (a)  and 

Drawn  ashes,  (a) 
LSalt,  for  asparagus,  (a). — 1835.] 


• 


CHAPTER  X. 

INTRODUCTORY   AND   GENERAL   OBSERVATIONS   ON    MARL 
AND   LIME.* 

Proposition  5. —  Calcareous  manures  will  give  to  our  worst  soils      ; 
a  power  of  retaining  putrescent  manures,  equal  to  that  of  the 
lust — and  will  cause  more  productiveness,  and  yield  more  profit, 
than  any  other  improvement  practicable  in  lower  Virginia. 

The  theory  of  the  constitution  of  fertile  and  barren  soils,  has 
now  been  regularly  discussed.  It  remains  to  show  its  practical 
application,  in  the  use  of  calcareous  earth  as  a  manure.  If  the 
opinions  which  have  been  maintained  are  unsound,  the  attempt  to 
reduce  them  to  practice  will  surely  expose  their  futility ;  and  if 
they  pass  through  that  trial,  agreeing  with  and  confirmed  by  facts, 
their  truth  and  value  must  stand  on  impregnable  ground.  The 
belief  in  the  most  important  of  these  opinions  (the  incapacity 
of  poor  soils  for  improvement,  and  its  cause)  first  directed  the 
commencement  of  my  use  of  calcareous  manures;  and  the  manner 
of  my  practice  has  also  been  directed  entirely  by  the  views  which 
have  been  exhibited.  Yet  in  every  respect  the  results  of  practice 
have  sustained  the  theory  of  the  action  of  calcareous  manures; 
unless  indeed  there  be  claimed  as  exceptions  the  injuries  which 
have  been  caused  by  applying  too  heavy  dressings  to  poor  and  acid 
lands ;  and  also  the  beneficial  effects  of  proper  practice  being  found 
to  exceed  in  degree  what  the  theory  seemed  to  promise. 

My  use  of  calcareous  earth  as  manure  has  been  almost  entirely 
confined  to  that  form  of  it  which  is  so  abundant  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  our  tide-waters — the  beds  of  fossil  shells,  together  with  the 
matrix,  or  earth  with  which  they  are  found  mixed.  The  shells 
are  in  various  states — in  some  beds  generally  whole,  and  in  others 

[*  My  views  of  the  theory  of  fertilization  have  been  presented  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  (chapters  ii.  to  ix.  inclusive),  precisely  as  they  appeared  in 
1832  (and,  w substance,  at  a  still  earlier  time),  the  later  additions  being 
all  distinctly  marked  as  such.  This  was  deemed  necessary  to  the  main- 
tenance of  my  claim  of  priority  or  of  originality  of  opinions,  some  of 
which,  though  then  novel  and  unsupported  by  other  authority,  have  siSfce 
been  recognised  as  true,  and  are  now  generally  if  not  universally  received 
by  writers  on  agricultural  chemistry.  The  like  necessity  will  not  apply  to 
the  remainder  of  this  work  ;  and  therefore  the  distinguishing  of  later 
additions  to  or  alterations  of  the  edition  of  1832,  will  not  be  regularly 
marked  for  distinction.  Still  it  will  be  done  whenever  it  may  be  required 
for  more  clear  exposition,  or  where  the  later  dates  of  additions  are  deemed 
of  any  importance  to  their  purport. — 1852.] 

(107) 


■ 


108  FOSSIL   SHELLS   AM)    MABL. 

reduced  nearly  to  a  coarse  powder.  The  earth  which  fills  their 
vacancies,  and  serves  to  make  the  whole  a  compact  mass,  in  most 
cases  is  principally  silicious  sand,  and  usually  contains  no  putres- 
cent or  valuable  matter,  other  than  the  calcareous.*  The  same 
effects,  in  the  main,  might  he  expected  from  calcareous  earth  in 
any  other  form,  whether  chalk,  lime-stone  gravel,  wood  ashes,  or 
lime — thpugh  the  two  last  have  other  qualities  besides  the  calca- 
reous. During  the  short  time  that  lime  can  remain  quick  or  caustic, 
"after  being  applied  as  manure,  it  exerts  (as  before  stated)  a  solvent 
power,  sometimes  beneficial  and  at  others  hurtful,  which  has  no 
connexion  with  its  subsequent  and  permanent  action  as  calcareous 
earth. 

These  natural  deposits  of  fossil  shells  are  commonly,  but  very 
improperly,  called  marl.  This  misapplied  term  is  particularly  ob- 
jectionable, because  it  induces  erroneous  views  of  this  manure. 
Other  earthy  manures  have  long  been  used  in  Europe  under  the 
name  of  marl,  and  numerous  publications  have  described  their 
general  effects,  and  recommended  their  use.  When  the  same  name 
is  given  here  to  a  different  manure,  many  persons  will  consider 
both  operations  as  similar,  and  perhaps  may  refer  to  English 
authorities  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  truth  of  my  opinions, 
and  the  results  of  my  practice.  But  no  two  operations  called  by 
the  same  name  can  well  differ  more.  The  process  which  it  is  my 
object  to  recommend,  is  calxing,  or  simply  the  ajjplication  of  calca- 
reous earth  in  any  form  whatever,  to  soils  wanting  that  ingredient, 
and  generally  being  quite  destitute  of  it ;  and  the  propriety  of  the 
application  depends  entirely  on  the  knowing  that  the  manure  con- 
tains calcareous  earth,  and  what  proportion,  and  that  the  soil  con- 
tains none.  In  England,  the  most  scientific  agriculturists  apply 
the  term  marl  correctly  to  a  calcareous  clay  of  peculiar  texture. 
But  many  authors,  as  well  as  the  illiterate  cultivators,  have  used 
that  name  for  any  smooth  soapy  clay,  which  may  or  may  not  havo 
contained,  so  far  as  they  knew,  any  proportion  whatever  of  calca- 
reous matter.  Indeed,  in  most  cases,  they  have  seemed  uncon- 
scious of  the  presence  as  well  as  of  the  importance  of  that  ingi-e- 
dient,  by  their  not  alluding  to  it  when  attempting  most  carefully  to 
point  out  the  distinguishing  characters  by  which  marl  may  be  known. 
Still  less  have  they  inquired  into  the  deficiency  of  cald^ous  earth 
in  soils  proposed  to  be  marled — but  applied  any  earth  which  either 
science  or  ignorance  may  have  called  marl,  to  any  soils  within  a 

[*  From  later  observation  I  have  formed  the  opinion  that  the  colouring 
matter  of  blue  marls  is  vegetable  extract,  chemically  combined  with  the 
calcareous  matter,  of  which  opinion  the  grounds  will  be  stated  hereafter. 
But  still  the  amount  of  this  vegetable  admixture  is  too  small  to  have  much 
appreciable  effect  as  food  for  plants;  and,  for  all  practical  use,  the  general 
position  assumed  above  may  yet  be  considered  as  altogether  true. — 1812.] 


MAUL   AND    MARLING    IN    ENGLAND.  109 

convenient  "distance — and  relied  upon  the  subsequent  effects  to 
direct  whether  the  operation  should  he  continued  or  abandoned. 
Theee  remarks  wore  especially  apply  to  the   older  writers;  hut 
even  the  later  authors,  of  the  highest  character  (as  Sinclair  and 
Young,  for  example),  when  telling  of  the  practical  use  and  valua- 
ble effects  of  marl,  omit  giving  the  strength  of  the  manure,  and 
generally  even  its  nature — and  in  no  instance  have  I  found  the  in- 
gredients of  the   soil  stated,  so  that  the  reader  might  learn  what 
kind  of  operation  really  was  described,  or  be  enabled  to  form  a 
judgment  of  its  propriety.     From  all  this,  it  follows  that  though 
what  is  called   marling  in  England  may  sometimes  be  (though 
very  rarely,  as   I  infer)   the   same  chemical  operation  on  the  soil 
that  I  am  recommending,  yet  it  may  also  be  either  applying  clay 
to  sand,  or  clay  to  chalk,"  or  true  marl  to  cither  of  those  soils,  or 
to  some  other  soil  still  more  calcareous  than   the   earth  applied ; 
and   the  reader  will  generally  be  left  to  guess,  in  every  separate 
ease,  which  of  all  these  operations  is  meant  by  the  term  meuiwg. 
For  these  reasons,  the  practical  knowledge  to  be  gathered  from  all 
this  mass  of  written  instruction  on  marling  will  be  far  less  abund- 
ant than  the  errors  and  mistakes  of  the  authors,  and  the  consequent 
inevitable  false  >  deductions   by  their  readers.     The  recommenda- 
tions of  marl   by  English  authors,  induced  me  very  early  to  look 
to  what  was  here  called  by  the  same  name,  as  a  means  for  improve- 
ment.    But  their  descriptions  of  the  manure  convinced  me  that 
our  marl  was  nothing  like  theirs,  and  thus  actually  deterred  me 
from  using  it,  until  other  and  original  and  more  correct  views  in- 
structed me  that  its  value  did  not  depend  on  its  having  "  a  soapy 
feel,"  or  on  any  admixture  of  clay  whatever.* 

[*  The  remarks  above  were  written  in  1820,  and  are  much  less  applica- 
ble to  authors  of  later  date.  How  well  justified  my  expressions  then  were, 
will  fully  appear  in  the  Appendix,  in  the  testimony  furnished  by  quotations 
of  the  language  and  opinions  of  many  authors. 

There  is  no  want  of  precision  and  clearness  in  the  definitions  of  marl 
given  by  modern  scientific  writers.  Though  even  with  some  of  them,  there 
are  still  very  remarkable  misapplications  of  the  terms ;  as  incorrect,  in- 
deed, as  could  be  expected  from  the  most  ignorant  cultivators.  Thus  the 
former  geological  surveyor  of  New  Jersey  habitually  applies  the  name  of 
marl  to  the.  "  green-sand"  of  that  country;  which  remarkable  earth  is  a 
soft  incoherent  crumbly  mass  of  separate  grains,  neither  clayey  nor  marly 
in  texture  or  compactness,  nor  in  the  least  calcareous  in  its  chemical  com- 
position. Still  more  strange  than  this,  is  an  example  found  as  late  as 
18!'.>,  in  the  "  Second  Visit  to  the  United  States"  of  the  distinguished 
geologist  Sir  Charles  Lyell.  This  author  says,  when  passing  from  New 
Fork  to  Philadelphia,  "  In  New  Jersey  we  passed  over  a  gently  undulating 
surface  of  country,  formed  of  red  marl  and  sand-stone,  resembling  in  appear- 
ance, and  of  about  the  same  geological  age  as  the  new  red  sand-stone 
(trias)  of  England."  Vol.  i.  p.  191.  This  error  was  not  caused  by 
merely  the  careless  use  of  an  incorrect  provincial  term ;  for  the  "new  red 

10 


110  TI1£    NAME    OF    MAKL    Ml.-AITLIKD. 

[Nevertheless,  much  valuable  information  may  be  obtained  from 
tbesc  same  English  works,  on  calcareous  manure,  or  on  marl  (in  the 

sand-stone"  formation  of  England  is  largely  composed  of  a  true  (calcare- 
ous) "red  marl.'"  The  soil  in  question  was  probably  a  red  clay,  but,  as  I 
should  suppose,  containing  not  a  particle  of  calcareous  earth — and  cer- 
tainly having  no  quality  in  common  with  any  marl,  true  or  false,  or  agree- 
ing with  any  of  the  different  understandings  of  what  marl  is,  in  texture  or 
composition.  . 

ling  to  scientific  definition,  marl  is  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime 
and  fine  clay.  When  taken  moist  from  its  bed,  such  marl  is  not  ductile  or 
plastic,  like  ordinary  clay  :  and  is  broken  more  easily  than  bent.  It  is 
cut  by  a  knife  to  a  smooth  surface,  having  an  unctuous  or  soapy  feel.  When 
a  lump  has  been  dried,  and  is  then  put  into  water,  it  speedily  crumbles  to 
powder,  or  into  thin  laniime.  Puvis  (in  his  ■'  Essai  sur  la  Marne"),  con- 
siders the  clay  and  carbonate  of  lime  in  marl  to  be  chemically  combined — 
which  opinion  seems  well  founded.  He  also  supposes  marl  to  be  generally, 
if  not  universally,  of  fresh-water  formation — as  shown  by  the  shells  con- 
tained. 

The  term  marl  may  be  considered  as  understood  in  four  principal  signi- 
fication?, and  two  of  these  running  into  numerous  provincial  varieties. 
With  all  the  precision  and  care  in  defining  that  can  be  used,  it  will  not  be 
possible  for  me  to  avoid  using  the  term  sometimes  in  the  different  senses  in 
which  it  is  used  by  other  authorities  to  whom  I  may  refer,  or  whose  opinions 
may  be  quoted.  Therefore,  it  will  serve  for  better  understanding  and 
greater  clearness,  to  state,  in  general  terms,  all  the  different  meanings  ap- 
phed  to  the  term  marl,  by  different  ela  • 

1.  The  definition  of  marl  by  mineralogists,  and  men  of  science,  is  the- 
most  exact  and  most  restricted  in  application — a  calcareous  clay  of  pecu- 
liar texture  and  physical  qualities,  as  described  more  at  full  above,  and 
elsewhere  in  this  work. 

2.  The  niosi  extended  sense — in  which  I  shall  use  it  in  reference  to  its 
fertilizing  operation,  (calxing),  to  embrace  every  kind  of  substance  of  earthy 
texture,  containing  carbonate  of  lime  in  useful  quantity  to  serve  as  manure, 
and  that  being  the  principal  manuring  ingredient. 

•3.  The  sense  in  which  it  is  understood  by  modern  British,  agricultural 
authors — which  is  the  mineralogical  marl,  but  also  embraces  other  earths 
used  for  the  calcareous  contents. 

4.  .All  the  provincial  applications  of  the  term  in  different  regions — as  to 
fine  clay  (in  England) — fossil  shells,  in  lower  Virginia — calcareous  tufa, 
or  travertine,  in  our  mountain  region — and  non-calcareous  green-sand, 
in  New  Jersey,  ic. :  In  short,  to  any  kind  of  earth  that  experience  has 
proved,  or  that  ignorance  has  supposed,  to  be  useful  as  manure. 

The  operation  called  "marling''  in  England  is  even  less  like  what  is 
known  by  the  same  name  here,  than  are  the  different  substances  used  un- 
der that  name.  That  which  I  have  done,  and  advise,  and  call  marling  (in 
conformity  to  our  provincial  and  incorrect  name  given  to  the  substance 
used),  is,  as  above  stated,  the  application  of  calcareous  earth  of  any  kind, 
or  from  any  source,  to  soils  deficient  in  that  ingredient — and  also,  in  quan- 
tities no  greater  than  will  serve  to  produce  the  desired  chemical  change  in 
each  particular  soil.  This  required  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime  is 
rarely  more  than  will  make  one  per  cent,  of  the  soil  for  its  ploughed  depth; 
and  generally  less  than  half  that  quantity  is  enough  far  profit  and  for 
safety.  Hence,  according  to  the  strength  of  the  manure  and  the  condi- 
tion of  the  soil,  the  usual  applications  lie  between  the  extremes  of  100  and 


MAULING    IN    ENGLAND.  Ill 

sense  in  which  that  term  is  used  among  us) — but  under  a  different 
head,  viz.,  lime.     This  manure  is  generally  treated  of  with  as  little 

500  bushels  to  the  acre — and  more  generally  between  200  and  300.  In 
England,  (even  where  we  know  that  the  manure  is  truly  marl,  or  is  calca- 
reous), the  quantities  applied  are  enormous,  and  must  act  mechanically  for 
much  the  greater  part,  even  if  acting  chemically  at  all.  For  there  can 
be  no  chemical  action,  if  the  soil  was  calcareous  in  the  slightest  degree 
before  the  application.  The  expense  there  is  great,  because  of  the  heavy 
applications;  and  liming,  though  that  also  is  there  very  much  heavier  and 
therefore  more  expensive  than  with  us,  is  always  deemed  cheaper  labour, 
and  is  substituted  for  marling  whenever  water-borne  lime  can  he  obtained. 
The  case  here  is  reversed — -marling  being  always  much  cheaper  than  the 
cheapest  liming,  if  the  marl  is  dug  on  or  near  to  the  farm  to  which  it  is 
applied. 

I  will  cite  a  few  facts  and  authorities  to  show  the  enormous  quantities 
in  which  marl  is  applied  in  Britain.  Arthur  Young  (in  his  Farmer's 
Calendar,  10th  London  collection,  p.  40),  describes  and  commends  the 
labours  of  Mr.  Rodwell,  who  put  140,000  loads  of  marl  (effervescing  with 
acids),  to  120  acres  of  leased  land,  with  great  profit.  The  size  of  the  load 
not  stated.  But  if  20  bushels,  this  would  be  (171  loads  of  20  bush.)  3420 
bushels  to  the  acre.  Sir  John  Sinclair  says  the  red  marl  (which  is  calca- 
reous, certainly,  as  I  learn  from  the  Agricultural  Report  of  Lancashire) 
is  the  great  source  of  fertilization  in  Lancashire  and  Cheshire.  "The 
quantity  used  is  enormous;  in  many  cases  300  middling  cart-loads  to  the 
acre,  and  the  fields  are  sometimes  so  thickly  covered  as  to  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  red-soiled  fallow,  fresh  ploughed."  (Code  of  Agriculture.) 
Counting  these  loads  at  20  bushels,  makes  6000  bushels  to  the  acre.  The 
Lancashire  Report,  made  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  says  that 
the  carts  for  marling  are  usually  drawn  by  3  horses,  and  carry  about  15 
cwt.  (1080  lbs.)  This  is  a  very  light  load,  for  short  distances  and  level 
ground.  This  Report  gives  sundry  facts  concurring  with  the  foregoing. 
A  few  only  will  be  here  quoted.  "  The  quantity  [of  marl]  laid  on  is  from 
2  to  3.}  cubic  roods  of  64  [cubic]  yards  to  the  statute  acre;  the  expense 
of  which  is,  according  to  the  distance  carried,  if  within  60  rods  [330 
yards]  on  the  average,  about  £8  [or  nearly  $40]  the  acre." — "A  cubic 
rood  of  marl,  #f  64  [cubic]  yards  to  the  rood,  adds  nearly  half  an  inch  to 
the  staple  of  the  soil  to  a  statute  acre  of  land." — Consequently,  the  usual 
dressing,  of  2  to  31  such  "cubic"  roods,  must  give  a  coat  of  from  nearly 
1  inch  to  nearly  1J  inches  to  the  soil.  A  particular  piece  of  9  acres  of  "a 
wretched  black  sandy  waste"  (which  however  was  bought  for  £33  6s.  Sd. 
per  acre),  was  afterwards  marled  "at  nearly  12  roods,  of  64  cubic  yards 
to  the  acre  of  8  rods."  [This  is  a  provincial  measure,  equal  to  2  acres,  and 
18o  perches,  statute  measure.]  This  was  equal  to  20,730  cubic  feet  to  the 
[large]  acre — and  more  than  as  many  heaped  bushels,  if  the  cubic  measure 
of  the  marl  was  made  in  its  bed.  The  cost  of  this  marling  was  £27  16*1 
6rf.  per  [large]  acre — [or  about  $135,  or  not  quite  half  this  quantity  and 
price,  per  statute  acre].  In  this  same  report,  particular  estimates  are 
made  of  the  expenses  of  marling,  at  stated  rates  and  distances,  which  of 
course  we  must  suppose  ordinary  cases.  1.  A  field  of  30  rods  square 
(about  6  statute  acres),  marled  from  a  pit  in  the  centre,  at  6  cubic  roods, 
would  cost  for  cartage  per  rood,  18s.,  or  £32  8s.  for  the  6  acres.  2.  If  a  like 
square,  adjoining  the  first,  be  marled  from  the  same  pit,  the  previous 
average  distance  of  15  rods  will  be  increased  by  30,  or  to  45  rods  (  x  54 
yards  =  217  yds.),  the  increased  expense  will  be  12s.  the  acre,  or  £54  in 


112  MARLING    Di    ■fff.Alffifr       L1M1XU. 

clearness  or  correctness,  as  is  done  with  marl;  but  the  reader  at 
leas:  cannot  be  mistaken  in  this,  that  the  ultimate  effect  of  every 
application  of  lime  must  be  to  make  the  soil  more  calcareous;  ■and 
to  that  cause  solely  are  to  be  imputed  all  the  long-continued  bene- 
ficial consequences,  and  great  profits,  which  have  been  derived 
from  liming.  But  excepting  this  one  point,  in  wnieh  -we  cannot 
be  misled  by  ignorance  or  want  of  precision,  the  mass  of  writings 
on  lime,  as  well  as  on  calcareous  manures  in  general,  will  need 
much  sifting  to  yield  instruction.  The  opinions  published  on  the 
mode  of  operation  of  lime  are  so  many,  so  various,  and  so  contra- 
dictory, that  it  seems  as  if  each  author  had  hazarded  a  guess,  and 
added  it  to  a  compilation  of  those  of  all  who  had  preceded  him. 
For  a  reader  of  these  publications  to  be  able  to  reject  all  that  is 
erroneous  in  reasoning,  and  in  statements  of  facts — or  inapplicable 
on  account  of  difference  of  soil,  or  other  circumstances — and  thus 

all  for  marling  the  6  acres.  3.  Another  6  acres,  adjoining  the  last,  at  75 
rods  average  distance  from  the  pit,  'would  cost  £79  4*.  So  that  at  this  very 
small  distance  of  412  yards  only,  and  on  even,  firm,  and  level  ground,  the 
cost  of  ordinary  marling  is  about  $35  the  English  statute  acre.  Of  coarse, 
for  one  or  more  miles,  the  expense  'would  be  intolerable. 

Neither  is  this  marl  (or  even  the  poorer  "clay"  as  there  termed)  iu 
Lancashire  wanting  in  calcareous  matter.  Of  4  specimens  stated,  the 
calcareous  proportions  were  between  19J  and  22  per  cent.  I  infer,  from 
general  notices,  that  others  are  much  richer.  There  is  no  intimation  in 
the  report  as  to  whether  the  soils  are  or  are  not  calcareous  before  being 
marled.  But  there  is  other  and  better  authority  for  supposing  that  the 
soils  are  naturally  calcareous.  The  red  marl  of  Lancashire  is  of  the 
"new  red  "sand-stone"  geological  formation,  and  so  I  presume  is  the 
over-lying  soil  (Morton  on  Soils,  p.  67).  If  so,  this  would  remove  all 
chemical  action  from  the  very  heavy  dressings  of  calcareous  marl  in 
Lancashire.  At  p.  70.  the  same  author  speaks  of  the  great  improvement 
made  by  liming  "on  the  red  marl"  in  Somerset  and  Devonshire.  The  de- 
servedly high  authority  of  this  writer  is  enough  to  establish  these  facta 
of  improvement  which  he  asserts.  But  it  requires  no  argument  to  prove 
that  when  lime  is  found  a  beneficial  application  to  a  "red  marlv  soil,  or 
any  soil  before  calcareous,  that  it  must  be  by  some  other  mode  than  that 
chemical  action  which  I  call  marling  or  ealxing,  and  which  always  eon 
in  rendering  a  soil  calcareous,  which  was  not  so  before.  -  We  might  safely 
infer  that  the  farmers  of  Lancashire  do  not  incur  the  enormous  expense 
of  their  marlings  merely  to  put  the  calcareous  ingredient  on  their  lands. 
But  the  author  of  the  "Report"'  leaves  no  doubt  on  that  point.  He  says: 
"Undoubtedly  the  calcareous  matter  contained  in  either  marl  [the  clay  or 
the  richer  marl]  is  of  the  highest  importance ;  but  obviating  the  natural  de- 
nes of  the  soil,  by  adding  sand  to  clay,  or  clay  to  sand,  is  of  more  conse- 
quence than  the  mere  calcareous  stimulus,  which  might  be  obtained  at  a  much 
lighter  expense" — [i.  e.  by  xising  lime  instead.] 

In  the  appendix  there  will  be  presented  many  more  facts  in  confirmation. 
But  .these  alone  will  go  far  to  prove  that  the  marling  of  England  is  still 
more  different  from  the  "marling"  or  calxing  which  I  have  recommended 
and  ]  than  is  our  "marl"  from  the  substances  so  called  in  Europe. 

—1851.] 


LIMINQ.  113 


obtain  only  what  is  true,  and  useful-it  would  be  necessary  for  him 
fir  Ho  understand  the' subject  better  than  most  of  those  whose 
™  nions  he  was  studying.  Indeed  it  was  not  possible  for  them  to 
be  c  vrec  tw^n  treaLl  (as  most  writers  do)  of  time  as  one  kind 
of  minure  and  every  dfffcrcnt  form  of  the  carbonate  ofhmen  so 
iTotn  vs  Only^ne  distinction  of  this  kind  (as  to  mode  of 
o  Sition  and  effects)  should  be  made,  and  never  lost  sight >of- 
and  that  is  one  of  substance,  still  more  than  of  name  Pure  or 
nuicUmie,  and  carbonate  of  lime,  are  manures  entirely  different  in 
quick  iliac,  «•    f_      T5nt  ;t  should  be  remembered  that  the 

SKTttwSi  £  whS0  Just  burned,  often  becomes 
khanate  of  Ume  before  it  is  used  (by  absorbing  carbonic  acid 
from  the  atmosphere);  still  more  frequently  before  a  crop  is 
rnmted  and  probably  always  before  the  first  crop  ripens.  Thus, 
ft  should  be  We  J  mind"  that  the  manure  spoken  of  as  lime  is 
nftor.  a  first  and  always  at  a  later  period,  neither  more  nor  less 
£52S£t£ft-  lime,  whlh  at  ^^JS^S^Z 
distinct  kinds  of  manure,  is  considered  in  agricultural  treatises as 
only  one;  and  to  calcareous  earth  are  given  as  many  different 
names  a  1  considered  to  have  different  values  and  effects,  as  here 
a?e  different  forms  and  mixtures  of  the  substance  presented  by 

TbS  incorrect  and  inconvenient  the  term  marl  may  be 
custom  Z  too  strongly  fixed   its  application  for  any  proposed 
change  to  be  adopted.0  Therefore,  I  must  submit  to  use  the  word 
W  to  mean  beds  of  fossil  shells,  notwithstanding  my  protest 
against  the  property  of  its  being  so  applied. 

r*  The  seoloo-ical  cliaracter  of  this  tide-water  region  renders  ^Possible 
the  JSStS  true  marl  ^ds   .hi;h  can  fj»  soughtjor  with  hope, 

wmmmm 

mmmmm 

and  when  the  suspending  water  becomes  n^£/^bZ"f2      This 
Sd L above  the  water.     However  much  it  may  appear  like  fine  clay  m 

10* 


114  REMARKS   OX   EXPERIMENTS.* 

The  following  experiments  are  reported,  either  on  account  of 
having  been  accurately  made  and  carefully  observed,  or  as  pre- 
senting such  results  as  have  been  generally  obtained  on  similar 
soils,  from  applications  of  fossil  shells  to  nearly  six  hundred  acres 
of  Coggina  Point  farm  (made  before  1830).  It  had  been  my 
habit  to  make  written  memoranda  of  such  things ;  and  the  mate- 
rial circumstances  of  these  experiments  were  put  in  writing  at  the 
time  they  occurred,  or  not  long  after.  Some  of  the  experiments 
were,  from  their  commencement,  designed  to  be  permanent,  and 
their  results  to  be  measured  as  long  as  circumstances  might  per- 
mit. These  were  made  with  the  utmost  care.  But  generally, 
when  precise  amounts  are  not  stated,  the  experiments  were  less 
carefully  made,  and  their  results  reported  by  guess.  Every 
measurement  stated,  of  land  or  of  crop,  was  made  in  my  presence. 
The  average  strength  of  the  different  marls  used  was  ascertained 
by  a  sufficient  number  of  analyses;  and  the  quantity  applied 
was  known  by  measuring  some  of  the  loads,  and  having  them 
dropped  at  regular  distances.  At  the  risk  of  being  tedious,  I  shall 
state  every  circumstance  supposed  to  affect  the  results  of  the  ex- 
periments ;  and  the  manner  of  description,  and  of  reference, 
necessary  to  use,  will  require  a  degree  of  attention  that  few  readers 
may  be  disposed  to  give,  to  enable  them  to  derive  the  full  benefit 
of  these  details.  But,  however  disagreeable  it  may  be  to  give  to 
them  the  necessary  attention,  I  will  presume  to  say  that  these  ex- 
periments deserve  it.  They  will  present  practical  proofs  of  what 
otherwise  would  be  but  uncertain  theory — and  give  to  this  essay 
its  principal  claim  to  be  considered  truly  instructive  and  useful. 

"When  these  operations  were  commenced,  I  had  heard  of  no 
other  experiments  having  been  made  with  fossil  shells,  except  two, 
which  had  been  tried  long  before,  and  were  considered  as  proving 
the  manure  to  be  too  worthless  to  be  resorted  to  again. 

The  earliest  of  these  old  experiments  was  made  at  Spring  Gar- 
den, in  Surry,  about  1775,  by  Mr.  Wm.  Short,  proprietor  of  that 
estate.  The  extent  marled  was  eight  or  ten  acres,  on  poor  sandy 
land.  Nothing  is  now  known  of  the  effects  for  the  first  twent}-- 
five  or  thirty  years,  except  that  they  were  too  inconsiderable  to 
induce  a  repetition  of  the  experiment.  The  system  of  cultivation 
was  doubtless  as  exhausting  as  usual  at  that  time.  Since  1812, 
the  farm  has  been  under  mild  and  improving  management  gene- 
rally. No  care  has  been  taken  to  observe  the  progress  either  of 
improvement  or  exhaustion  on  the  marled  piece  ;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  product  has   continued  for  the  last  fifteen  years 


^ture  and  character  in  as  marked   manner  ns  any  true   marl.     Such 
-,  in  former  times,  were  not  distinguished  by   farmers,   or  even  agri- 
cultural writers,  from  marl. — 1849.] 


EARLIEST   TRIALS   OP   MARL  IN   VIRGINIA.  115 

better  than  that  of  the  adjacent  land.  Mr.  Francis  Ruffiu,  the 
present  owner  of  the  farm,  believed  that  the  product  was  not  much 
increased  in  favourable  seasons;  but  when  the  other  land  suffered 
either  from  too  much  wet  or  dry  weather,  the  crop  on  the  marled 
land  was  comparatively  but  slightly  injured.  The  loose  reports 
that  have  been  obtained  respecting  this  experiment  are  at  least 
conclusive  in  showing  the  long  duration  of  the  effects  produced. 

The  other  old  experiment  referred  to  was  made  at  Aberdeen, 
Prince  George  county,  in   1803,  by  Mr.   Thomas  Cocke.     Three 
small  spots  (neither  exceeding  thirty  yards   square)  of  poor  land, 
kept  before   and  since   generally  under  exhausting  culture,  were 
covered  with  this  manure.     He  found  a  very  inconsiderable  early 
improvement,  which  he  thought  altogether  an  inadequate  reward 
for  the  labour  of   applying  the   marl.     The    experiment,    being 
deemed  of  no  value,  was  but  little  noticed  until  after  the  com- 
mencement of  my  use  of  the  same  manure.     On  examination   the 
improvement  appeared  to  have  increased   greatly  on  two  of  the 
pieces,  but  the  third  was  evidently  the  worse  for  the  application. 
For  a  number  of  years  after  making  this  experiment,  Mr.  Cocke 
had  considered  it  as  giving  full  proof  of  the  worthlessness  of  the 
manure.     But  more  correct  views  of  its  mode  of  operation,  caused 
bv  my  experiments  and  reasoning,  induced  him  to  recommence  its 
use;  and  no  one  has  met  with  more  successor  produced  more 
valuable  early  improvement.  . 

Inexperience,  and  the  total  want  of  any  practical  guide  caused 
.  my  applications,  for  the  first  few  years,  to  be  frequently  injudicious, 
particularly  as  to  the  quantities  laid  on  For  this  reason,  these 
experiments  will  show  what  was  actually  done,  and  the  effects 
thence  derived,  and  not  what  better  information  would  have  directed 
as  the  most  profitable  course. 

The  measurements  of  corn  that  will  be  reported  were  all  made 
at  the  time  and  place  of  gathering.     The  measure  used  for  all  ex-, 
cent  very  small  quantities  was  a  barrel,  holding  five  bushels  when] 
filled  level,  and  which  being  filled  twice  with  ears  of  corn,  well 
shaken  to  settle  them,  and  heaped,  was  estimated  to  make  five 
bushels  of  grain;  and  the  products  will  be  reported  in  grow  .ac- 
cording to  this  estimate.     This  mode  of' measurement  will  best 
serve  for  comparing  results ;  but  in  most  cases  it  is  far  from  giving 
correctly  the  actual  quantity  of  dry  and  sound  gram,  for  the  fol- 
lowing reasons.     The  common  large  soft-grained  white  _  corn  was 
the  kind  cultivated,  which  was  always  cut  down  for  sowing  wheat 
before  the  best  matured  was  dry  enough  to   grind,  or  even  to   be 
stored  in  the  ear  for  keeping ;  and  when  the  ears  from  the  poorest 
land  were  in  a  state  to  lose  considerably  more  by  shrinking,     let, 
for  fear  of  some   mistake,  or  mixture  of  the   different  quantities, 
occurring  if  measurements  were  delayed  until  the  crop  was  gathered 


116  EXPERIMENTS   IN    MARLING. 

these  experiments  were  measured  when  the  land  was  ploughed  for 
wheat  in  October.  The  subsequent  loss  from  shrinking  would  of 
course  be  greatest  on  the  corn  from  the  poorest  and  most  backward 
land,  as  the  most  defective  and  unripe  ears  would  always  be  there 
found.  Besides,  every  ear,  however  imperfect  or  rotten,  was  in- 
cluded in  the  measurement.  For  these  several  reasons,  the  actual 
increase  of  product  on   the  marled  land  was  a.  .:•  r  than 

will  appear  from  the  comparison  of  quantities  measured ;  and  from 
the  statements  of  all  such  early  measurements,  there  ought  to  be 
allowed  a  deduction,  varying  from  10  or  15  per  cent,  on  the  best 
and  most  forward  corn,  to  30  or  35  per  cent,  ou  the  latest  and 
most  defective.  Having  stated  the  grounds  of  this  estimate, 
practical  men  can  draw  such  conclusions  as  their  experience  may 
direct,  from  the  dates  and  amounts  of  the  actual  measurements 
that  will  be  reported.  Some  careful  trials  of  the  amount  of  shrink- 
age in  particular  experiments  will  be  hereafter  stated. 

N«  grazing  had  been  permitted  on  any  land  from  which  experi- 
ments will  be  reported,  since  1814  (or  since  being  cleared,  if  in 
forest  at  that  time),  unless  the  contrary  shall  be  specially  stated. 
The  cropping  had  also  been  mild,  during  that  time,  though  previ- 
ously it  was  the  usual  exhausting  three-shift  and  grazing  course. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

EXPERIMENTS  WITH  AND   EFFECTS    OF  CALCAREOUS    MANURES  ON 

ACID  SANLY  SOILS,  NEWLY  CLEARED. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

As  most  of  the  experiments  on  new  land  were  made  on  a  single 
piece  of  twenty-six  acres,  a  general  description  or  plan  of  the 
whole  will  enable  me  to  be  better  understood,  as  well  as  to  be  more 
concise,  by  references  being  made  to  the  annexed  figure.  It  forms 
put  of  the  ridge  or  high  table  land  lying  between  James  River 
and  the  nearest  stream  running  into  Powell's  creek.  The  surface 
is  nearly  level,  but  slightly  undulating.  The  soil  in  its  natural 
state  very  similar  throughout,  but  the  part  next  to  the  line  B  C 
somewhat  more  sandy,  and  more  productive  in  corn,  than  the  part 
next  to  AD;  and,  in  like  manner,  it  is  lighter  along  A  e,  than 
nearer  to  D  /.  The  whole  soil,  a  gray  sandy  acid  loam,  not  more 
than  two  inches  deep  at  first,  resting  on  a  yellowish  sandy  sul 
from  one  to  two  feet  deep,  when  it  changes  to  clay.     Natural 


ON   NEWLY   CLEARED   AND   ACID   LANDS. 


117 


/•• 


J,       V. 


I) 


I 

2 
3 

4- 


growth  mostly  pine — next  in  quantity,  oaks  of  different  kinds — a 
little  of  dogwood  and  cbinquepin — whortleberry  bushes  throughout 
in  plenty.  The  quality  of  the  soil  better  than  the  average  of  ridge 
lands  in  general,  but  yet  quite  poor.  Judging  from  experience 
of  adjoining  grounds  and  similar. soil,  this  land  would  have  pro- 
duced as  its  early  and  best  crop,  and  under  the  best  treatment, 
about  12  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre,  well  ripened  and  fully  shrunk. 
And  if  thereafter  kept  under  ordinary  culture  and  management, 
the  products  would  have  gradually  and  speedily  sunk  to  5  bushels 
to  the  acre.  Being  still  less  suitable  to  wheat,  that  crop  would 
have  been  scarcely  worth  being  sown  on  the  land  in  its  best  natural 
state  (when  the  product  might  be  G  bushels),  and  certainly  not  at 
all  after  a  few  years  of  the  usual  downward  progress.  The  effects 
of  putrescent  manures  were  very  transient,  as  on  all  such  poor  lands. 

Experiment  1. 

The  part  BCjf  li,  about  11  acres,  grubbed  and  the  trees  cut 
down  in  the  winter  of  1814-15 — suffered  to  lie  three  years  with 
most  of  the  wood  and  brush  on  it.  February,  1818,  my  earliest 
application  of  marl  was  made  on  the  smaller  part  B  C  m  I,  about 
2  £  acres.  Marl,  containing  33  per  cent,  of  pure  calcareous  earth, 
and  the  balance  silicious  sand,  except  a  very  small  proportion  of 
clay ;  the  shelly  matter  finely  divided.  Quantity  of  marl  to  the 
acre,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  two  hundred  heaped  bushels. 
The  whole  space  B  C  y  h  coultered,  and  planted  in  its  first  crop  of 
corn  in  1818.  This  was  my  earliest  experiment  of  calcareous 
manures. 

Remits.  1818.  The  corn  on  the  marled  land  evidently  much 
better — supposed  difference,  forty  per  cent. 

1819.  In  wheat.  The  difference  as  great,  perhaps  more  so — 
particularly  to  be  remarked  from  the  commcnceuicnt  to  the  end 
of  the  winter,  by  the  marled  part  preserving  a  green  colour,  while 


118  ON    NEWLY   CLEARED   ACID   LANDS. 

the  remainder  was  seldom  visible  from  a  short  distance,  and  in  the 
spring  stood  much  thinner,  from  the  greater  number  of  plants 
killed  during  the  winter.  The  line  of  separation  very  perceptible 
throughout  both  crops. 

1820.  At  rest.  During  the  summer  marled  B  C  g  h,  at  the  rate 
of  five  hundred  bushels,  without  excepting  the  space  before  covered, 
and  a  small  part  of  that  made  as  heavy  as  one  thousand  bushels, 
counting  both  dressings.  The  shells  now  generally  coarse — average 
strength  of  the  marl,  37  per  cent,  of  calcareous  earth.  In  the 
winter  after,  ploughed  three  inches  deep  only,  as  nearly  as  could 
be ;  which  however,  shallow  as  it  was,  made  the  whole  new  surface 
yellow,  by  bringing  the  barren  sub-soil  of  yellow  sand  to  the  top. 
One  of  my  neighbours,  an  intelligent  and  experienced  farmer,  who 
saw  the  land  when  in  this  state,  pronounced  that  I  "had  ruined 
the  land  for  ever,  by  ploughing  and  turning  the  soil  too  deep." 

Restdts  continued,  1821.  In  corn.  The  whole  a  remarkable 
growth  for  such  a  soil.  The  oldest  (and  heaviest)  marled  piece 
better  than  the  other,  but  not  enough  so  to  show  the  dividing  line. 
The  average  product  of  the  whole  supposed  to  have  been  fully 
twenty-five  bushels  of  ripe  and  good  corn  to  the  acre. 

1822.  In  wheat — and  red  clover  sowed  on  all  the  old  marling, 
and  one  or  two  acres  adjoining.  A  severe  drought  in  June  killed 
the  greater  part  of  the  clover,  but  left  it  much  the  thickest  on  the 
oldest  marled  piece,  so  as  again  to  show  the  dividing  line,  and  to 
yield,  in  1823,  two  middling  crops  to  the  scythe — the  first  that  I 
had  known  obtained  from  any  acid  soil,  without  high  improvement 
from  putrescent  manures. 

1823.  At  rest — nothing  taken  off,  except  the  clover  on  B  C  m  1. 

1824.  In  corn — product  seemed  as  before,  and  its  rate 'may  be 
inferred  from  the  actual  measurements  on  other  parts,  which  will 
be  stated  in  the  next  experiment,  the  whole  twenty-six  acres  being 
now  cleared,  and  brought  under  like  cultivation. 

Experiment  2. 

The  part  e  f  n  o,  cleared  and  cultivated  in  corn  at  the  same 
times  as  the  preceding — but  treated  differently  in  some  other 
respects.  This  had  been  deprived  of  nearly  all  its  wood,  and  the 
brush  burnt,  at  the  time  of  cutting  down — and  its  first  crop  of 
corn  (1818)  being  very  inferior,  was  not  followed  by  wheat  in 
1819,  because  promising  too  little  product  to  pay  for  the  cost  of 
the  crop.  This  gave  two  years  of  rest  before  the  crop  of  1821 — 
and  five  years  rest  out  of  six,  since  the  piece  had  been  cut  down. 
As  before  stated,  the  soil  rather  lighter  on  the  side  next  to  o  c, 
than  n  f. 

March,  1821.  A  measured  acre  near  the  middle,  covered  with 
six  hundred  bushels  of  calcareous  sand,  containing  20  per  cent. 


ON   NEWLY   CLEARED   ACID   LANDS.  119 

of  calcareous  earth,   the  upper  layer  of   another  body  of   fossil 
shells. 

Results.  1821.  In  corn.  October — the  four  adjoining  quarter 
acres,  marked  1,  2,  3,  4,  extending  nearly  across  the  piece,  two 
of  them  within,  and  two  without  the  marled  part,  measured  as 
follows  : 

Do'        '  No   4'     hl\  averaSe  to  tne  acre  22 £  bushels  of  grain. 

[&Tm!         No.'!;     s!}  ^vcrage33i  bushels. 
The  remainder  of  this  piece  was  marled  before  sowing  wheat  in 
1821. 

1823.  At  rest. 

1824.  In  corn — distance  5  £  by  3}  feet,  making  2436  stalks  to 
the  acre.  October  11th,  measured  two  quarter  acres  very  nearly, 
if  not  precisely,  coinciding  with  Nos.  2  and  3  in  the  last  measure- 
ment.    The  products  now  were  as  follows  : 

No.  2  brought  7  bushels  3}  pecks,  ") 

or  per  acre,       ....  31.1  >•  average  31. 2 $. 
No.  3  brought  8  bushels,      .         .  32     ) 

Average  in  1821,       .....    33.1 

Experiment  3. 

The  part<?//7  h  was  cut  down  in  January,  1821,  and  the  land 
planted  in  corn  the  same  year.  The  coultering  and  after-tillage 
very  badly  executed,  on  account  of  the  number  of  whortleberry 
and  other  roots.  As  much  as  was  convenient  was  marled  at  six 
hundred  bushels,  37  per  cent,  and  the  dressing  limited  by  a  straight 
line.     Distance  of  corn  5£  by  3£  feet — 2262  stalks  to  the  acre. 

Results.  1821.  October — on  each  side  of  the  dividing  line,  a 
piece  of  twenty-eight  by  twenty-one  corn  hills  measured  as  follows  : 

No.  1,  588  stalks,  not  marled,  2  bushels,  equal  to  7  bushels  3 
pecks  the  acre. 

No.  2,  588  stalks,  marled,  4  J  bushels,  equal  to  16  bushels  2 h 
pecks  the  acre. 

1822.  In  wheat,  the  remainder  having  been  previously  marled. 

1823.  At  rest.  During  the  following  winter  it  was  covered  with 
a  second  dressing  of  marl  at  250  bushels,  45  per  cent.,  making 
850  bushels  to  the  acre  altogether. 

1824.  In  corn.  Two  quarter  acres,  chosen  as  nearly  as  possible 
on  the  same  spaces  that  were  measured  in  1821,  produced  as  follows : 

No.  1  made  8  bushels,  2  pecks,  or  to  the  acre,  34  bushels. 
The  same  in  1821,  before  marling,     .         .         7.3} 

Increase,         ......         26.  Of 


120  ON   NEW    AND    ACID    LAND. 

No.  2  made  7  bushel?,  2 \  pecks,  or  to  the  acre,    30.2 
The  same  in  1621,  after  marliDg,      .         .         10. 2* 

Increase  average,         .....    13.3} 

The  second  dressing  of  marl,  or  the  larger  quantity,  had  but 
little  effect  in  making  the  increase  of  crops  greater  than  in  1  - 
The  difference  was  caused  mainly  by  the  greater  length  of  time 
since  the  clearing  of  the  land. 

1825.  The  whole  twenty-sis  acres,  including  the  subjects  of  all 
these  experiments  and  observations,  were  in  wheat.  The  first 
marled  piece,  in  Exp.  1,  was  decidedly  the  best — and  a  gradual 
decline  was  to  be  seen  to  the  latest.  I  have  never  measured  the 
product  of  wheat  from  any  experiment,  on  account  of  the  great 
trouble  and  difficulty  that  would  be  encountered.  Even  if  the 
wheat  from  small  measured  spaces  could  be  reaped  and  secured 
separately,  during  the  urgent  labours  of  harvest,  it  would  be 
scarcely  possible  afterwards  to  carry  the  different  parcels  through 
all  the  operations  necessary  to  show  exactly  the  clean  grain  derived 
from  each.  But  without  any  separate  measurement,  all  my  obser- 
vations convince  me  that  the  increase  of  wheat,  from  marling,  was 
at  least  equal  to  that  of  corn,  during  the  first  two  years,  and  cer- 
tainly greater  afterwards,  in  comparison  to  the  product  before  using 
marl. 

It  was  from  the  heaviest  marled  part  of  Exp.  1,  that  soil  was 
analyzed  to  find  how  much  calcareous  earth  remained  in  1S2G 
•(page  78.)  Before  that  time  the  marl  and  soil  had  been  well 
mixed  by  ploughing  to  the  depth  of  five  inches.  One  of  the 
specimens  of  this  soil  then  examined  consisted  of  the  following 
parts — half  an  inch  of  the  surface,  and  consequently  the  undecom- 
posed  weeds  upon  it,  being  excluded. 
1000  grains  of  soil  yielded 

769  grains  of  silicious  sand  moderately  fine, 
15         finer  sand, 


784 

8  calcareous  earth,  from  the  manure  applied, 

108  finely  divided  gray  clay,  vegetable  matter,  &e. 

28  lost  in  the  process. 


1000 


This  part,  it  has  been  already  stated,  was  originally  somewhat 
lighter  than  the  general  texture  of  the  remainder  of  the  land. 

Experiment  -4. 

The  four  acres  marked  AD  n  o  were  cleared  in  the  winter  of 


ON   NEW   AND   ACID   LAND.  121 

1823-4.  The  lines  p  q  and  r  s  divide  the  piece  nearly  into  quar- 
ters. The  end  nearest  A  p  o  is  lighter,  and  best  for  corn,  and  was 
still  better  for  the  first  crop,  owing  to  nearly  all  that  half  having 
been  accidentally  burnt  over.  After  twice  coultering,  marl  and 
putrescent  manures  were  applied  as  follows;  and  the  products 
measured,  October  11th,  the  same  year, 
s  q  not  marled  nor  manured — produced  on  a  quarter  acre  (No. 

4),  of  soft  and  badly  filled  corn, 

Bush.  P. 

3  bushels, or  per  acre     12. 

q  r  and  r  p,  marled  800  bushels  (45  per  cent.)  by  three 
measurements  of  different  pieces — 

Quarter  acre  (No.  1)  5  bushels,  very  nearly,  or  per  acre     19.3 i 
Eighth  (No.  2)  2.3J   j  average )  .         .         .22.2 

Eighth  (No.  3)  3.U    (  24.U  j  .        .         .    27. 

s  t  manured  at  900  to  1100  bushels  to  the  acre,  of  which, 
Quarter  acre  (No.  5)  with   rotted   corn   stalks,  from  a 

winter  cow-pen,  gave  5.2 £        .         .         .         .         .22.2 
Eighth  (No.  6)  with  stable  manure,  4. If      .         .     35.2 

Eighth  (No.  7)  covered  with  the  same  heavy  dress- 

ings of  stable  manure,  and  of  marl  also,  gave  4.2      .     36. 
p  io}  marled  at  450  bushels,  brought  not  so  good  a  crop 

as  the  adjoining  rj)  at  800. 
The  distance  was  H  by  3£  feet.    Two  of  the  quarter  acres  were 
measured  by  a  surveyor's  chain  (as  were  four  other  of  the  experi- 
ments of  1824),  and  found  to  vary  so  little  from  the  distance 
counted  by  corn  rows,  that  the  difference  was  not  worth  notice. 

1825.  In  wheat,  the  different  marked  pieces  seemed  to  yield  in 
comparison  to  each  other,  proportions  not  perceptibly  different  from, 
those  of  the  preceding  crop — but  the  best  not  equal  to  any  of  the 
land  marled  before  1822,  as  stated  in  the  1st,  2d,  and  3d  experi- 
ments. 

1827.  Wheat  on  a  very  rough  and  imperfect  summer  fallow. 
This  was  too  exhausting  a  course,  (being  three  grain  crops  in  the 
four-shift  rotation),  but  was  considered  necessary  to  check  the 
growth  of  bushes  that  had  sprung  from  the  roots  still  living.  The 
crop  was  small,  as  might  have  been  Expected  from  its  bad  pre- 
paration. 

1828.  Corn — in  rows  five  feet  apart,  and  about  three  feet  of 
distance  along  the  rows,  the  seed  being  dropped  by  the  step. 
Owing  to  unfavourable  weather,  and  to  insects  and  other  vermin, 
not  more  than  half  of  the  first  planting  of  this  field  lived ;  and  so 
much  replanting  of  course  caused  its  product  to  be  much  less  ma- 
tured than  usual,  on  the  weaker  land.  All  the  part  not  marled 
(and  more  particularly  that  manured)  was  so  covered  by  sorrel,  as 
to  require  ten  timc3  as  much  labour  in  weeding  as  the  marled  parts, 

11 


122 


ON   NEW   AND   ACID   LAND. 


which,  as  iu  every  other  such  case,  hore  no  sorrel.  Octoher  15th, 
gathered  and  measured  the  corn  from  the  several  spaces,  which 
were  laid  off  (by  the  chain)  as  nearly  as  could  be,  on  the  same 
land  as  in  1824.  The  products  so  obtained,  together  with  those 
of  the  previous  and  subsequent  courses  of  tillage,  will  be  presented 
below  in  a  tabular  form,  for  the  purpose  of  being  more  readily 
compared. 

[On  the  wheat  succeeding  this  crop,  clover  seed  was  sown,  but 
very  thinly,  and  irregularly.  On  the  parts  not  marled,  only  a  few 
yards  width  received  seed,  which  the  next  year  showed  the  ex- 
pected result  of  scarcely  any  living  clover,  and  that  very  mean. 
On  the  marled  portions,  the  growth  of  clover  was  of  middling 
quality.  Was  not  mowed  or  grazed,  but  seed  gathered  by  hand 
both  in  1830  and  1831.] 

1832.  Again  in  corn.  It  was  soon  evident  that  much  injury  was 
caused  to  the  marled  half  q  p  o  n,  by  the  too  great  quantity  ap- 
plied. A  considerable  proportion  of  the  stalks,  during  their  growth, 
showed  strongly  the  marks  of  disease  from  that  cause,  and  some 
were  rendered  entirely  barren.  A  few  stalks  only  had  appeared 
hurt  by  the  quantity  of  marl  in  1828.  On  the  lightly  marled 
piece,  w  p,  and  also  on  w  t,  where  the  heaviest  marling  was  accom- 
panied by  stable  manure,  there  appeared  no  sign  of  injury.  The 
products  of  the  [three]  successive  crops  were  as  follows : 


3 
>> 

DESCRIPTION. 

PRODUCTS    OF    GRAIN    PER    ACRE. 

1st  course. 

2d  course. 

[3d  course. 

OQ 

1824.- 

1828. 

1832. 

October  11. 

October  15. 

October  26. 

Bush,    pecks. 

Bush,     pecks. 

Bush,    pecks. 

s  q 

Not  marled  or  manured, 

12 

21         1 

17         3£ 

q  r  1 

Marled  at  800  bushels, 

19         Si 

28         \\ 

28 

r  p  2 
r  p  3 

The  same, 
The  same, 

22        2    \ 
27             / 

31         0J 

27        3 

5  t  5 

Cow-pen  manure  only, 900 

to  1100  bushels, 

22        2 

25         2 

more  than  s  q 

s  t  6 

Stable  manure  only,  900 

to  1100  bushels," 

35        2 

29 

28        1 

w  t  7 

Marl  and  stable  manure, 

both  as  above, 

3ft 

33         2 

37        3£ 

tv  p 

Marled  at  450  bushels, 

Less  than  r  \ 
P  (800)      / 

Equal  to  r  p 

31         3 

An  accidental  omission  prevented  the  measurement  of  a  t  5,  in  1832.] 

[This  experiment  has  been  made  with  much  trouble,  and  every 
care  bestowed  to  insure  accuracv.  Still  several  causes  have  ope- 
rated to  affect  the  correctness  of  the  results,  and  to  prevent  the 
comparative   products   showing    the    true   rate  of  improvement, 


ERRORS  OF  THE  EXPEBtMENTS.  123 

cither  from  the  marl  or  the  putrescent  manure.  These  causes  will 
be  briefly  stated. 

1st.  The  quantity  of  marl  (800  bushels)  m  q  r  and  r  p  is  nearly 
double  the  amount  that  ought  to  have  been  used ;  and  this  error 
has  not  only  increased  the  expense  uselessly  but  has  served  to  pre- 
vent the  increase  of  product  that  would  otherwise  have  taken  place. 
This  loss  is  proved  by  the  gradual  increase,  aod  at  *ast  the  greater 
product  of  w  p,  marled  at  only  450  bushels. 

2d.  The  comparative  superiority  of  all  the  marled  ground  to  s 
q,  not  marled,  is  lessened  by  this  circumstance :  most  of  the  large 
logs,  as  well  as  all  the  small  branches,  were  burnt  upon  the  laud, 
when  it  was  cleared  in  1824,  before  the  experiment  was  com- 
menced ;  aud  the  ashes  have  durably  improved  a  spot  where  each 
of  these  large  fires  was  made  on  s  q,  but  have  done  no  good,  and 
perhaps  have  been  injurious,  to  the  marled  pieces  that  were  made 
sufficiently  calcareous  without  the  addition  of  ashes.  At  least,  the 
good  effect  of  ashes,  on  spots,  is  very  evident  in  s  q,  and  has  helped 
somewhat  to  increase  all  its  measured  products,  and  no  such  benefit 
has  beeu  visible  on  the  marled  parts. 

3d.  The  quantity  of  putrescent  manure  applied  to  s  t  (900  to 
1100  bushels)  was  much  too  great  both  for  fair  experiment  and 
profit;  and  the  excess  of  quantity,  together  with  the  imperfectly 
rotted  state  of  the  stable  manure,  has  given  more  durability  to  the 
effect,  than  is  to  be  expected  from  a  more  judicious  and  economical 
rate  of  manuring  on  such  land  when  not  marled.  For  these  several 
seasons,  it  is  evident  that  far  more  satisfactory  results  than  even 
these  would  have  been  obtained,  especially  in  the  amounts  of  nett 
products,  if  only  half  as  much  of  either  marl  or  manure  had  been 
applied. 

There  are  other  circumstances  to  be  considered,  which,  if  not 
attended  to,  will  cause  the  comparative  increase  or  decrease  of  pro- 
duct in  this  experiment  to  be  misunderstood.  It  is  well  known 
that  poor  land  put  under  tillage  immediately  after  being  cleared, 
as  this  was  in  1824,  will  not  yield  near  as  much  as  on  the  next 
succeeding  course  of  crops.  This  increase,  which  depends  merely 
on  the  effects  of  time,  operates  independently  of  all  other  means 
for  improvement  that  the  land  may  possess ;  and  its  rate,  in  this 
experiment,  may  be  fairly  estimated  by  the  increase  on  the  piece 
s  q  from  1824  to  1828.  The  increase  here,  where  time  only  acted, 
was  from  12  to  21  ^  bushels.  But  as  the  corn  gathered  here  was 
always  much  the  most  imperfectly  ripened,  and  would  therefore 
lose  the  most  by  shinking,  I  will  suppose  eight  bushels  to  be  the 
rate  of  increase  from  time,  and  that  so  much  of  the  product  of  all 
the  pieces  should  be  attributed  to  that  cause.  Then,  to  estimate 
alone  the  increased  or  diminished  effects  of  marl  or  manure  on  the 


124 


ERRORS   OF  THE   EXPERIMENTS. 


other  pieces,  eight  hushels  should  he  deducted  from  all  the  dif- 
ferent applications,  and  the  estimate  will  stand  thus : 


1824. 

1828. 

Deduct 
for  time. 

Increase. 

CD 

0Q 

a 
a> 
S 
o 

Q> 
P 

qr  1 
rp  2 
rp  3 
s  t  5 
at  6 

B.      P. 

19  3$ 

|2}24  1J 

22  2 
35  2 

b.    r. 
28  1J 

31 

25 
29 

B. 

8 

8 

8 
8 

B.    P. 

0  2 

B.    P. 

5  2 
14  2 

From  800  bushels  of  marl. 

800    "  of  marl. 

1000    "  cow-pen  manure. 
1000    "  stable  manure. 

Even  the  piece  covered  with  both  marl  and  stable  manure  (w  t) 
shows  according  to  this  estimate  a  diminished  effect  equal  to  10  \ 
bushels ;  which  was  owing  to  the  marl  not  being  able  to  combine 
with,  and  fix,  so  great  a  quantity  of  manure,  in  addition  to  the 
vegetable  matter  left  by  its  natural  growth  of  wood.  The  piece 
w  p,  marled  at  450  bushels  alone,  has  shown  a  steady  increase  of 
product  at  each  return  of  tillage,  and  thereby  has  given  evidence 
of  its  being  the  only  improvement  made  in  such  manner  as  both 
judgment  and  economy  would  have  directed. 

[After  the  crop  and  measurement  of  1832,  it  was  inferred  that 
the  separate  products  of  such  small  spaces  could  no  longer  be  relied 
on,  owing  to  the  mixture  of  the  surfaces  of  adjacent  parts,  necessa- 
rily caused  by  tillage.  Therefore  the  previously  omitted  parts  were 
marled  before  the  next  course  of  crops  came  round. — 1842.] 


CHAPTER  XII. 

EFFECTS  OF  CALCAREOUS  MANURE  ON  ACID  CLAY  (OR  STIFF)  SOILS, 
RECENTLY  CLEARED. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

The  two  next  experiments  were  made  on  another  field  of  thirty 
acres  of  very  uniform  quality,  marled  and  cleared  in  182G  and  the 
succeeding  years.  The  soil  is  very  stiff,  close,  and  intractable  un- 
der cultivation — seems  to  contain  scarcely  any  sand — but,  in  fact, 
about  one  half  of  it  is  composed  of  silicious  sand,  which  is  so  fine, 
when  separated,  as  to  feel  like  the  finest  flour.  Only  a  small  pro- 
portion of  the  sand  is  coarser  than  this  state  of  impalpable  powder. 
Clayey  earth  of  a  dirty  pale  yellow  colour  forms  nearly  all  of 
its  remaining  ingredients.  Before  being  cleared  of  the  forest 
growth,  and  ploughed,  the  soil  is  not  an  inch  deep ;  and  all  below, 


EXPERIMENTS   ON   NEW   AND   ACID   CLAY   LANDS.  125 

for  many  feet,  is  apparently  composed  of  the  like  parts  of  clay 
and  fine  sand.  This  is  decidedly  the  most  worthless  kind  of  soil, 
in  its  natural  state,  that  our  district  furnishes.  It  is  better  for 
wheat  than  for  corn,  though  its  product  is  contemptible  in  every- 
thing. It  is  difficult  to  be  made  wet,  or  dry — and  therefore  suffers 
more  than  other  soils  from  both  dry  and  wet  seasons,  but  espe- 
cially from  the  former.  It  is  almost  always  either  too  wet  or  too 
dry  for  ploughing ;  and  sometimes  it  will  pass  through  both  states 
in  two  or  three  clear  and  warm  days.  If  broken  up  early  in  win- 
ter, the  soil,  instead  of  being  pulverized  by  frost,  like  most  clay 
lands,  runs  together  again  by  freezing  and  thawing ;  and  by  March, 
will  have  a  sleek  (though  not  a  very  even)  crust  upon  the  surface, 
quite  too  hard  to  plant  on  without  a  second  ploughing.  The 
natural  growth  is  principally  white  and  red  oaks,  a  smaller  proportion 
of  pine,  and  an  under-growth  of  whortleberry  bushes  throughout. 

Experiment  5. 

On  one  side  of  this  field  a  marked  spot  of  thirty-five  yards 
square  was  left  out,  when  the  adjoining  land  was  marled  at  the 
rate  of  five  hundred  to  six  hundred  bushels  (37  per  cent.)  to  the 
acre.  Paths  for  the  carts  were  opened  through  the  trees,  and  the 
marl  dropped  and  spread  in  January,  1826,  and  the  land  cleared  the 
following  winter.  Most  of  the  wood  was  carried  off  for  fuel ;  the 
remaining  logs  and  brush  burnt  on  the  ground,  as  usual,  at  such 
irregular  distances  as  were  convenient  to  the  labourers.  This  part 
was  perhaps  the  poorer,  because  wood  had  previously  been  cut  here 
for  fuel ;  though  only  a  few  trees  had  been  taken,  here  and  there, 
each  winter,  for  a  long  time  past. 

Results,  1827.  Planted  in  corn  the  whole  recent  clearing  of 
fifteen  acres — all  marled,  except  the  spot  left  out  for  experiment : 
broken  up  late  and  badly,  and  worse  tilled,  as  the  land  was  gene- 
rally too  hard,  until  the  season  was  too  far  advanced  to  save  the 
crop.  The  whole  crop  so  small,  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt 
to  measure  the  products.  The  difference  would  have  been  only 
between  a  few  imperfect  ears  on  the  marled  ground,  and  still  less 
— indeed  almost  nothing — on  that  not  marled. 

1828.  Again  in  corn — as  well  broken  and  cultivated  as  usual 
for  such  land.  October  8th — cut  down  four  rows  of  corn  running 
through  the  land  not  marled,  and  eight  others,  alongside  on  the 
marled — all  fifty  feet  in  length.  The  rows  had  been  laid  off  for 
five  and  a  half  feet — but  were  found  to  vary  a  few  inches — for 
which  the  proper  allowance  was  made,  by  calculation.  The  spaces 
taken  for  measurement  were  caused  to  be  thus  small  by  a  part  of 
the  corn  having  been  inadvertently  cut  down  and  shocked,  just 
before.  The  ears  were  shelled  when  gathered ;  and  the  products, 
11* 


12G 


ON   NEW  AND  AOfD   CLAY  LANDS. 


measured  in  a  vessel  which  held  (by  trial)  1-S0th  of  a  bushel, 
were  as  follows : 

On  land  not  marled, 

4  rows,  average  5  feet,  and  50  in  length  (500  square  feet)  13  J 
measures,  or  to  the  acre  7  J  bushels. 

On  adjoining  marled  land, 

4  rows,  average  5  feet  1£  inches  by  50  feet  =512  square  feet, 
25|  measures,  or  to  the  acre  13  £  bushels. 

4  next  rows,  5  feet  4£  inches  by  50  =  537  square  feet,  27  J  mea- 
sures, or  to  the  acre  14  bushels. 

1829.  In  wheat. 

1830.  At  rest — the  weeds,  a  scanty  cover. 

1831.  In  corn.  October  20th — measured  by  the  chain  equal 
spaces,  and  gathered  and  measured  their  products.  The  corn  not 
marled  was  so  imperfectly  filled,  that  it  was  necessary  to  shell  it, 
for  fairly  measuring  the  quantity.  The  marled  parcels,  being  of 
good  ears  generally,  were  measured  as  usual,  by  allowing  two 
heaped  measures  of  ears,  for  one  of  grain. 

On  land  not  marled, 
3G3  square  yards  made         .....         3  gallons, 

or  to  the  acre,  ......         5  bushels. 

On  marled  land,  close  adjoining  on  one  side, 
363  square  yards  made  rather  more  than  6  gallons — to  the  acre, 
10  bushels.    363  square  yards  on  another  side,  made  not  quite  8 
gallons,  or  to  the  acre,  12  bushels. 

The  piece  not  marled  coincided  with  that  measured  in  1828,  as 
nearly  as  their  difference  of  size  and  shape  permitted — as  did  the 
last  named  marled  piece,  with  the  two  of  1828.  The  last  crop 
was  greatly  injured  by  the  wettest  summer  that  I  have  ever  known, 
which  has  caused  the  decrease  of  product  exhibited  in  this  experi- 
ment— which  will  be  best  seen  in  this  form  : 

Product  of  grain  to  the  acre. 
1828— October  18.     1831— October  20. 


Not  marled, 

7  bushels  1  peck. 

5  bushels 

Marled  (average), 

13      "       3    " 

.       11       " 

Experiment  6. 


e 

D 

7?c 

A 

E 

MARLING   ON   ACID   CLAY   SOIL.  127 

The  remainder  of  the  thirty  acres  was  grubbed  during  the  win- 
ter of  1826-27;  marled  the  next  summer  at  five  hundred  to  six 
hundred  bushels  the  acre — marl  40  per  cent.  A  rectangle  (A) 
11  by  13  poles,  was  laid  off  by  the  chain  and  compass,  and  left 
without  marl.  All  the  surrounding  land  supposed  to  be  equal  in 
quality  with  A — and  all  level,  except  on  the  sides  E  and  B,  which 
were  partly  sloping,  but  not  otherwise  different.  The  soil  suited  to 
the  general  description  given  before ;  no  material  difference  known 
or  suspected  between  the  land  on  which  5th  experiment  was  made 
and  this,  except  that  the  latter  had  not  been  robbed  of  any  wood 
for  fuel,  before  clearing.  The  large  trees  (or  all  more  than  ten 
inches  through)  were  belted,  and  the  smaller  cut  down  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1828,  and  all  the  land  west  of  the  line  e  /,  was  planted 
in  corn.  As  usual,  the  tillage  bad,  and  the  crop  very  small.  The 
remainder  lying  east  of  e  f,  was  coultered  once ;  but,  as  more  labour 
could  not  be  spared,  nothing  more  was  done  with  it  until  the  latter 
part  of  the  winter,  1829,  when  it  was  broken  by  two-horse  ploughs, 
oats  sown  and  covered  by  trowel  ploughs ;  then  clover  sown,  and  a 
wooden-tooth  harrow  passed  over  to  cover  the  seed,  and  to  smooth 
down,  in  some  measure,  the  masses  of  roots  and  clods. 

Results,  1829.  The  oats  produced  badly ;  but  yielded  more  for 
the  labour  required  than  corn  would  have  done.  The  young  clover 
on  the  marled  land  was  remarkably  good,  and  covered  the  surface 
completely.  In  the  unmarled  part,  A,  only  two  casts  through  had 
been  sown,  for  comparison,  as  I  knew  it  would  be  a  waste  of  seed. 
This  looked  as  badly  as  had  been  expected. 

1830.  The  crop  of  clover  would  have  been  considered  excellent 
even  on  good  land,  and  was  most  remarkable  for  so  poor  a  soil  as 
this.  The  strips  sown  through  A,  had  but  little  left  alive,  and 
that  scarcely  of  a  size  to  be  observed,  except  one  or  two  small 
tufts,  where  I  supposed  some  marl  had  been  deposited  by  the 
cleaning  of  a  plough,  or  that  ashes  had  been  left,  from  burning 
the  brush.  The  growth  of  clover  was  left  undisturbed  until  after 
midsummer,  when  it  was  grazed  by  my  small  stock  of  cattle,  but 
not  closely. 

1831.  Corn  on  the  whole  field.  October  20th,  measured  care- 
fully half  an  acre  (10  by  8  poles)  in  A,  the  same  in  D,  and  half 
as  much  (10  by  4)  in  E.  No  more  space  could  be  taken  on  this 
Bide,  for  fear  of  getting  within  the  injurious  influence  of  the  con- 
tiguous woods.  No  measurement  was  made  on  the  side  B,  because 
a  large  oak,  which  the  belting  had  not  killed,  affected  its  product 
considerably.  Another  accidental  circumstance  prevented  my 
being  able  to  know  the  product  of  the  side  C,  which  however  was 
evidently  and  greatly  inferior  to  all  the  marled  land  on  which  oats 
and  clover  had  been  raised.  This  side  had  been  in  corn,  followed 
by  wheat,  and  next  (1830)  under  its  spontaneous  growth  of  weeds. 


128  EFFECTS   ON   ACID   CLAY   SOIL. 

The  corn  on  each  of  the  measured  spaces  was  cut  down,  and  put 
in  separate  shocks — and  on  Nov.  25th,  when  well  dried,  the  parcels 
were  shucked  and  measured,  before  being  moved.  "We  had  then 
been  gathering  and  storing  the  crop  for  more  than  fifteen  days ; 
and  therefore  these  measurements  may  be  considered  as  showing 
the  amount  of  dry  and  firm  grain,  without  any  unusual  deduction 
being  required  for  shrinkage. 

Bush.  Pks. 
A  (half  acre)  made  7}  bush,  of  ears,  or  of  grain  to  the  acre,  7     1 

D  (half  acre)  16  J 16     3 

E  (quarter  acre)    11 22 

The  sloping  surface  of  the  side  E,  prevented  water  from  lying 
on  it,  and  therefore  it  suffered  less,  perhaps  not  at  all,  from  the 
extreme  wetness  of  the  summer,  which  evidently  injured  the  growth 
on  A  and  D,  as  well  as  of  all  the  other  level  parts  of  the  field. 

[1832.    The  field  in  wheat. 

1833.  In  clover,  which  was  grazed,  though  not  closely,  after  it 
had  reached  its  full  growth. 

►  1834.  Corn,  a  year  earlier  than  would  have  been  permitted  by 
the  four-shift  rotation.  The  tillage  was  insufficient,  and  made  still 
worse  by  the  commencement  of  severe  drought  before  the  last 
ploughing  was  completed,  which  was  thereby  rendered  very  labori- 
ous, and  imperfect  withal.  The  drought  continued  through  all 
August,  and  greatly  injured  the  whole  crop  of  corn. 

Results  continued.  October  22d.  Marked  off  by  a  chain  half 
an  acre  within  the  space  A  (8  by  10  poles)  as  much  in  D,  and  a 
quarter  acre  (10  by  4  poles)  in  each  of  the  other  three  sides  C,  B, 
and  E,  having  each  of  the  last  four  spaces  as  near  as  could  be  to 
the  outlines  of  the  space  A.  The  products  carefully  measured  (in 
the  ears)  yielded  as  follows  : 

A,  not  marled,  yielded    6  bush.  0?  peck  of  grain,  to  the  acre. 

D,  marled,  "       19     "      3£     «  " 

E,  do.  "       20     "      1       "  « 
C,     do.                 "       20     "     2       «                                « 

B,  do.  "       20     "      H     "      •  " 

In  comparing  these  products  with  those  of  the  same  land  in 
1831,  stated  above,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  corn  formerly 
measured  was  dry,  while  that  of  the  last  measurement  had  yet  to 
lose  greatly  by  shrinking.  As,  after  early  gathering,  the  corn  from 
the  poorest  land  of  course  will  lose  most  by  drying,  and  as  the 
cars  on  A  were  generally  very  defective  and  badly  filled,  if  the 
measurement  had  been  made  in  the  sound  and  well  dried  grain  of 
each  parcel,  the  product  of  A  could  not  have  exceeded  one-fourth 
of  that  of  the  surrounding  marled  land,  and  probably  was  less. 

But  though  these  differences  of  product  present  the  improvement 
caused  by  marling  in  a  striking  point  of  view,  this  close  and  stub- 


EFFECTS   ON   ACID    CLAY    SOIL.  ]29 

^  born  soil  at  best  is  very  unfit  for  the  corn  crop ;  and  its  highest 
value  is  found  under  clover,  and  in  wheat  on  clover,  of  which  some 
proofs  will  be  found  in  the  next  experiment.  The  first  crop  of 
clover,  however,  after  marling,  has  not  since  been  equalled. — 1885.] 
[My  subsequent  distant  residence  prevented  my  observing  this 
field  when  under  any  matured  crop,  until  in  1842,  when  in  wheat. 
The  then  growth  on  the  unmarlcd  space  was  certainly  not  more  than 
one-fourth  as  much  as  that  of  the  surrounding  ground. — 1842.] 

Experiment  7. 

Another  piece  of  land  of  twenty-five  acres,  of  soil  and  qualities 
similar  to  the  last  described  (Exp.  5  and  6),  was  cleared  in  1818, 
and  about  6  acres  marled  in  1819,  at  about  three  hundred  and  fifty 
bushels.     The  course  of  cultivation  was  as  follows  : 

1820.  Corn — benefit  from  marl  very  unequal — supposed  to  vary 
between  twenty-five  and  eighty  per  cent. 

1821.  Wheat — the  benefit  derived  greater. 

1822.  At  rest. 

1823.  Ploughed  early  for  corn,  but  not  planted.  The  whole 
marled  at  the  rate  of  six  hundred  bushels  (40  per  cent.),  again 
ploughed  in  August,  and  sown  in  wheat  in  October.  The  old 
marled  space  more  lightly  covered,  so  as  to  make  the  whole  nearly 
equal. 

1824.  The  wheat  much  improved. 
1825  and  1826,  at  rest. 

1827.  Corn. 

1828.  In  wheat,  and  sown  in  clover. 

1829.  The  crop  of  clover  was  heavier  than  any  I  had  ever  seen 
in  this  part  of  the  country,  except  in  some  very  rare  cases  of  rich 
natural  soil,  where  gypsum  was  used  and  acted  well.  The  growth 
was  thick,  but  unequal  in  height  (owing  probably  to  unequal 
spreading  of  the  marl),  standing  from  fifteen  to  twenty-four  inches 
high.  The  first  growth  was  mowed  for  hay,  and  the  second  left  to 
manure  the  land. 

1830.  The  clover  not  mowed.  Fallowed  in  August,  and  sowed 
wheat  in  October,  after  a  second  ploughing. 

1831.  The  wheat  was  excellent,  almost  heavy  enough  to  be  in 
danger  of  lodging.  I  supposed,  the  product  to  be  certainly  twenty 
bushels,  perhaps  twenty-five,  to  the  acre. 

As  it  had  not  been  designed  to  make  any  experiment  on  this 
land,  the  progress  of  improvement  was  not  observed  with  much 
care.  But  whatever  were  the  intermediate  steps,  it  is  certain  that 
the  land,  at  first,  was  as  poor  as  that  forming  the  subjects  of  the  two 
preceding  experiments  in  the  unimproved  state  (the  measured  pro- 
ducts of  which  have  been  given),  and  that  its  last  crop  was  at  least 
four  times  as  great  as  could  have  been  obtained,  if  marl  had  not 


130  EFFECTS   ON   IMPOVERISHED   ACID    SOILS. 

been  applied.  The  peculiar  fitness  of  this  kind  of  soil  for  clover 
after  marling,  and  the  supposed  cause  of  the  remarkable  heavy  Jirst 
crop  of  clover,  will  require  further  remarks,  and  -will  be  again 
referred  to  hereafter. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

TIIE  EFFECTS  OF  CALCAREOUS   MANURES    ON  ACID    SOILS  REDUCED 
BY  CULTIVATION. 

Proposition  5 — continue!. 

-My  use  of  marl  has  been  more  extensive  on  impoverished  acid 
soils  than  on  all  other  kinds,  and  has  never  failed  there  to  produco 
striking  improvement.  Yet  it  has  unfortunately  happened  that  the 
two  experiments  made  on  such  land  with  most  care,  and  on  which 
I  relied  mainly  for  evidence  of  the  durable  and  increasing  benefit 
from  this  manure,  have  had  their  beneficial  effects  almost  destroyed 
by  the  applications  having  been  made  too  heavy.  These  experi- 
ments, like  the  4th  and  6th,  already  reported,  were  designed  to  re- 
main without  any  subsequent  alteration,  so  that  the  measurement 
of  their  products,  once  in  every  succeeding  course  of  crops,  might 
exhibit  the  progress  of  improvement  under  all  the  different  circum- 
stances. As  no  danger  was  then  feared  from  such  a  course,  marl 
was  applied  heavily,  that  no  future  addition  might  be  required ; 
and  for  this  reason,  I  have  to  report  my  greatest  disappointments 
exactly  in  those  cases  where  the  most  evident  success  and  increas- 
ing benefits  had  been  expected.  However,  these  failures  will  be 
stated  fairly,  and  as  fully  as  the  most  successful  results ;  and  they 
may  at  least  serve  to  warn  from  the  danger  of  error,  though  not  to 
show,  as  was  designed,  the  greatest  profits  of  judicious  marling. 

[It  should  be  observed  that  the  general  rotation  of  crops  pur- 
sued on  the  farm,  on  all  land  not  recently  cleared,  was  that  of  four 
shifts  (corn,  wheat,  and  then  the  land  two  years  at  rest  'and  not 
grazed),  though  some  exceptions  to  this  course  may  be  remarked 
in  some  of  the  experiments  to  be  stated.] 

Experiment  8. 

Of  a  poor  sandy  acid  loam,  seven  acres  were  marled  at  the  rate 
of  only  ninety  bushels  (37  per  cent.)  to  the  acre ;  laid  on  and 
spread  early  in  1819. 

Result*,  1819.  In  corn — the  benefit  too  small  to  be  generally 
perceptible,  but  could  be  plainly  distinguished  along  part  of  tho 
outline,  by  comparing  with  the  part  not  marled. 


EFFECTS   ON   IMPOVERISHED   ACID   SOILS.  131 

1820.  Wheat — the  effect  something  better ;  and  continued  to  be 
visible  on  the  weeds  following,  until  the  whole  was  more  heavily 
marled  in  1823. 

Experiment  9. 

In  the  same  field,  on  soil  as  poor  and  more  sandy  than  the  last 
described,  four  acres  were  marled  at  one  hundred  and  eighty 
bushels  (37  per  cent.),  March  1818.  A  part  of  the  same  was  also 
covered  heavily  with  rotted  barn-yard  manure,  which  also  extended 
through  similar  land  not  marled.  This  furnished  for  observation, 
land  marled  only — manured  only — marled  and  manured — and  some 
without  either.  The  whole  space,  and  more  adjoining,  had  been 
heavily  manured  five  or  six  years  before  by  summer  cowpens,  and 
stable  litter — of  which  no  appearance  remained  after  two  years. 

Results,  1819.  In  corn.  The  improvement  from  marl  very  evi- 
dent ;  but  not  to  be  distinguished  on  the  part  covered  also  by  ma- 
nure, the  effect  of  the  latter  so  far  exceeding  that  of  the  marl  as 
to  conceal  it. 

1820.  In  wheat.    In  1821  and  1822,  at  rest. 

1823.  In  corn — 5£  by  3£  feet.  The  following  measurements 
were  made  on  adjoining  spaces  on  October  10th.  The  shape  of  the 
ground  did  not  admit  of  larger  pieces,  equal  in  all  respects,  being 
measured,  as  no  comparison  of  products  had  been  contemplated  at 
first,  otherwise  than  by  the  eye. 

Bush.  Quarts. 
From  the  part  not  marled,  414  corn-hills  made  75  quarts — 

or  per  acre,  13       26 

Marled  only,  414         ...  100        .       18       12 

Manured  only,  490      .         .         .         .         105        .       15         5 
Marled  and  manured,  490    .  .         .         130        .       20       20 

The  growth  on  the  part  both  marled  and  manured  was  evidently 
inferior  to  that  of  1819.  This  was  to  be  expected,  as  the  small 
quantity  of  calcareous  earth  was  not  enough  to  fix  half  so  much 
putrescent  manure ;  and,  of  course,  the  excess  was  as  liable  to 
waste  as  if  no  marl  had  been  used. 

Experiment  10. 

Twenty  acres  of  sandy  loam,  on  a  sandy  sub-soil,  covered  in  1819 
with  marl  of  about  30  per  cent,  average  proportion  of  calcareous 
earth,  and  the  remainder  silicious  sand — at  800  bushels  to  the  acre. 
This  land  had  been  long  cleared,  and  much  exhausted  by  cultiva- 
tion ;  since  1814  not  grazed,  and  had  been  in  corn  only  once  in 
four  years ;  and,  as  it  was  not  worth  sowing  in  wheat,  had  three 
years  in  each  rotation  to  rest  and  improve  by  receiving  all  its  scanty 
growth  of  weeds.  The  same  course  has  been  continued  from  1819 
to  1832,  except  that  wheat  has  regularly  followed  the  crops  of 


132 


ZFFl  ACID    AND    SANDY    t 


corn,  leaving  two  rears  of  rest  in  four.  This  soil  was  lighter  than 
the  subject  of  any  preceding  experiment,  except  the  9th.  On  a 
high  level  part,  surrounded  by  land  apparently  equal,  a  square  of 
about  an  acre  (A)  was  staked  off,  and  left  without  marl — which 
that  year's  work  brought  to  two  sides  of  the  square  (C;  D,  and  Y.  . 


c 

1 

...A. 

D 

B 

E 

JBm&s,  1820.  In  corn.  October  18th,  three  half  acres  of  marled 
land  were  measured,  and  as  many  on  that  not  marled,  and  close  ad- 
joining, and  produced  as  follows  : 


Not  marled. 
Bush. 
Half  acre  in  A.    7 
The  same  in  A,    7 
Half  acre  in  B.    7 


Marled. 
Pecks.  Bnsh.    Pecks. 

1         adjoining  in  C,         12       3 
1  D,  -      13       3f 

2|  "  E.         15       H 

The  average  increase  being  12  J  bushels  of  grain  to  the  acre, 
nearly  100  per  cent,  as  measured,  and  more  than  100  if  the  defect- 
ive filling,  and  less  matured  state  of  the  corn  not  marled,  be  con- 
sidered. The  whole  would  have  lost  more  by  shrinkage  than  is 
usual  from  equal  products. 

1821.  The  whole  in  wheat ;  much  hurt  by  the  wetness  of  the 
season.  The  marled  part  more  than  twice  as  good  as  that  left  out. 
1^22  and  1823.  At  rest.  A  good  cover  of  carrot  weeds  and 
other  kinds  had  succeeded  the  former  growth  of  poverty  grass  and 
sorrel,  and  every  appearance  promised  additional  increase  to  the 
-  cultivated  crop.  ^November,  1S23.  when  the  next  ploughing 
was  commenced,  the  soil  was  found  to  be  evidently  deeper,  of  a 
darker  colour,  and  firmer,  yet  more  friable.  The  two-horse  ploughs 
with  difficulty  (increased  by  the  cover  of  weeds)  could  cut  the  re- 
quired depth  of  five  inches,  and  the  slice  crumbled  as  it  fell  from 
the  mould-board.  But  as  the  furrows  passed  into  the  part  not 
marled,  an  immediate  change  was  seen,  and  even  fdt  by  the 
ploughman,  as  the  cutting  was  so  much  more  easy,  that  care  was 
necessary  to  prevent  the  plough  running  too  deep ;  and  the  slices 
turned  over  in  flakes,  smooth  and  sleek  from  the  mould-board,  like 
land  too  wet  for  ploughing,  which  however  was  not  the  case.  The 
marling  of  the  field  was  completed  at  the  same  rate  (800  bushels), 


DISEASE   OF  CROPS   FROM   OVER-MARL1NU. 


133 


which  closed  a  third  side  (B)  of  the  marked  square.  The  fourth 
bide  was  my  neighbour's  field. 

1824.  In  corn.  The  newly  marled  (on  B)  showed  as  early  and 
as  great  benefit  as  was  found  in  1820  on  C  and  D ;  but  yet  was 
very  inferior  to  the  old,  until  the  latter  was  10  or  12  inches  high, 
when  it  began  to  give  the  first  known  evidence  of  the  very  injuri- 
ous effects  of  using  this  manure  too  heavily.  The  disease  thus 
produced* became  worse  and  worse,  until  many  of  the  plants  had 
been  killed,  and  still  more  were  so  stunted  as  to  leave  no  hope  of 
their  being  otherwise  than  barren.  The  effects  will  be  known  from 
the  measurements  which  were  made  as  nearly  as  could  be  on  the 
same  ground  as  the  corresponding  marks  in  1820,  and  will  be  ex- 
hibited in  the  table,  together  with  the  products  of  the  succeeding 
rotations.  Besides  the  general  injury  suffered  here  in  1824,  there 
were  one  hundred  and  three  corn-hills  in  one  of  the  measured 
quarter  acres  (in  C),  or  more  than  one-sixth,  entirely  barren,  and 
eighty -nine  corn-hills  in  another  quarter  acre  (D).  In  counting 
these,  none  of  the  missing  hills  were  included,  as  these  plants 
might  have  perished  from  other  causes.  [This  unlooked  for  disaster 
diminished  the  previous  increase  gained  by  marling,  by  nearly  one- 
half;  and  the  damage  has  since  been  still  greater,  at  each  succes- 
sive return  of  cultivation  until  some  years  after  1832. 

Just  before  planting  the  crops  of  1832,  straw  and  chaff  very 
imperfectly  rotted  by  exposure,  and  which  contained  no  admixture 
of  animal  manure,  were  applied  at  the  rate  of  800  bushels  the 
acre  to  half  the  square  without  marl  (A,  1),  and  to  the  adjacent 
parts  of  the  marled  land.  The  vegetable  manure  showed  but  slight 
benefit,  until  after  all  the  worst  effects  of  excessive  marling  had 
been  produced;  and  the  later  operation  of  the  manure  served 
barely  to  prevent  a  still  farther  diminution  being  exhibited  by  the 
land  injured  by  marl. 


> 

DESCRIPTION. 

PRODUCT  IN  SHELLED  CORN  PER  ACRE. 

1st  course 

2d  course 

3d  course 

4th  course 

w 

1820. 

1824. 

1828. 

1832. 

October  13. 

October  16. 

October  13. 

October  19. 

Bush.     pk. 

Bush.     pk. 

Bush.     pk. 

Busb.     pk. 

A 

Not  marled, 

14    2 

16     1 

11      §}, 

9     3 

A  1 

After  manuring, 

16     3 
not  mea- 

B 

Not  marled  until  1823, 

15     1 

28 

19     2 

sured. 

?! 

Marled  in  1819 — manured 
with  chaff,  &c,  in  1832, 

(25 

\  27     3£ 

(.30     l" 

19    2 
20 
not  mea- 

15 

19 
not  mea- 

18 

19       \ 
not  mea- 

sured. 

sured. 

sured. 

12 


13-4  EFFECTS   CONTINUED. 

The  crops  of  wheat  were  throughout  less  injured  by  the  excess 
of  marl  than  the  corn. 

For  the  crop  of  1828,  ploughed  with  three  mules  to  each  plough, 
from  sis  to  seven  inches  deep — seldom  turning  up  any  sub-soil 
(which  was  formerly  within  three  inches  of  the  surface),  and  the 
soil  appearing  still  darker  and  richer  than  when  preparing  for  the 
crops  of  1824.  The  ploughing  of  the  square  not  mailed  (A)  no- 
where exceeded  six  inches;  yet  that  depth  must  have  injured  the 
land,  as  I  can  impute  to  no  other  cause  the  remarkable  diminution 
of  product,  through  four  courses  of  the  mild  four-shift  rotation. 
It  was  evident  that  a  still  greater  depth  of  furrow  was  not  hurtful 
to  the  marled  land.  A  strip  across  the  field,  in  another  place,  was 
in  1828  ploughed  eight  inches  deep  for  experiment,  by  the  side  of 
another  of  four  inches,  and  the  corn  on  the  deepest  ploughing  was 
the  best.  Another  strip  was  trench-ploughed  twelve  inches  deep, 
without  showing  any  perceptible  difference,  either  of  product  or  in 
the  effects  of  damage  from  the  excess  of  marl. 

This  square  left  without  marl  was  the  land  previously  referred  to 
(page  44)  as  showing  a  diminished  product  through  three  succes- 
sive courses  of  the  rotation  recommended  by  the  author  of  '  Arator' 
as  enriching.  Since,  another  crop  has  been  made  and  measured, 
and  found  to  be  still  smaller  than  any  previous.  To  whatever 
cause  this  continued  falling  of,  for  16  years,  may  be  attributed,  it 
is  at  least  a  remarkable  contradiction  to  the  doctrine  of  vegetable 
matter  serving  alone  to  make  poor  land  rich. 

Much  trouble  has  been  encountered  in  attending  to  this  experi- 
ment, and  much  loss  of  product  submitted  to,  since  its  commence- 
ment, for  the  purpose  of  knowing  the  progress  and  extent  of  the 
evil  caused  by  the  excess  of  marl.  But  another  portion  of  the 
field,  marled  as  heavily  in  1824,  and  where  equal  damage  was  ex- 
pected to  ensue,  has  been  entirely  relieved  by  intermitting  the  corn 
crop  of  1828,  sowing  clover,  which  (by  manuring  with  gypseous 
earth,  or  green-sand  earth,  at  20  bushels  to  the  acre)  produced 
well,  and  which  was  left  to  fall  and  rot  on  the  land.  The  next 
growth  of  corn  on  this  part  of  the  field  (1832)  was  free  from  dis- 
ease, and  though  irregular,  seemed  to  the  eye  to  amount  to  full 
twenty-five  bushels  to  the  acre. — 1835.] 

[After  1836,  the  rotation  and  management  of  this  field  ceased 
to  be  regular  or  uniform,  as  previously ;  and  also,  by  cross  plough- 
in  2,  &c,  during  so  many  years,  marl  had  necessarily  become 
slightly  diffused  over  the  space  designed  to  remain  without  marl. 
Therefore  no  more  measurements  were  made,  as  they  could  no 
longer  be  relied  on  for  accurate  comparison.  The  unmarled  part, 
even  with  its  Blight  accidental  gain  of  marl  from  the  surrounding 
ground,  and  half  the  piece  having  also  been  dressed  with  putres- 
cent manure  in  1832  (as  stated  above),  is  but  very  little  improved 


EFFECTS   ON   ACID   SANDY   SOILS.  135 

since  1820.  This  and  other  spots,  at  first  omitted  for  comparison, 
when  no  longer  fit  for  that  purpose,  were  subsequently  marled. — 
1849.] 

Experiment  11. 
The  ground  on  which  this  experiment  was  made  was  in  the 
midst  of  nineteen  or  twenty  acres  of  soil  apparently  similar  in  all 
respects — level,  gray  sandy  loam,  cleared  about  thirty  years  before, 
and  reduced  as  low  by  cultivation  as  such  soil  could  well  be.  The 
land  that  was  marled  and  measured  was  about  two  hundred  yards 
distant  from  experiment  2,  and  both  places  arc  supposed  to  have 
been  originally  similar  in  all  respects.  This  land  had  not  been  culti- 
vated since  1815,  when  it  was  in  corn — but  had  been  once  ploughed 
since,  November  1817,  which  had  prevented  broom-grass  from 
taking  possession.  The  ploughing  then  was  four  inches  deep,  and 
in  five  and  a  half  feet  beds,  as  recommended  in  'Arator.'  The 
growth  in  the  year  1820  presented  little  except  poverty  grass 
(Aristida  gracilis.),  running  blackberry  briers,  and  sorrel — and  the 
laud  seemed  very  little  if  at  all  improved  by  its  five  successive 
years  of  rest.  A  small  part  of  this  land  was  covered  with  calca- 
reous sand  (20  per  cent.),  quantity  not  observed  particularly,  but 
probably  about  000  bushels. 


.A. 


2 


Results.    1821.    Ploughed  level,  and  planted  in  corn — distance 
5 J  by  3 J   feet.     The  measurement   of   spaces  nearly  adjoining, 
made  in  October,  was  as  follows  : 
23  by  25  corn-hills,  not  marled  (in  A)  made  2 1  bushels,") 

or  per  acre,    ....  .     8|  L     { 

23  by  25  corn-hills,  marled  (on  the  side  B)    5f      .  22  i  )  -^ 

1822.  At  rest.  Marled  the  whole,  except  a  marked  square  of 
fifty  yards,  containing  the  space  measured  the  preceding  year. 
Marl  45  per  cent,  and  finely  divided — 350  bushels  to  the  acre — 
from  the  same  bed  as  that  used  for  experiment  4.  In  August, 
ploughed  the  land,  and  sowed  wheat  early  in  October. 

1823.  Much  injury  sustained  by  the  wheat  from  Hessian  fly, 
and  the  growth  was  not  only  mean,  but  very  irregular ;  but  it  was 
supposed  that  the  first  marled  place  (on  the  side  B)  was  from  50 
to  100  per  cent,  better  than  the  last  marled,  and  the  last  superior 
to  the  included  square  not  marled  (A),  in  as  great  a  proportion. 

1824.  Atraiu  in  corn.   The  effects  of  disease  from  marling  were 


lou  nracrrs  oa  a<u>  banuy  soils. 

as  injurious  here,  both  on  the  new  and  old  part,  as  those  described 
in  experiment  10.  No  measurement  of  products  made,  owing  to 
my  being  from  home  when  the  corn  was  cut  down  for  sowing  wheat. 
lv_'">.  The  injury  from  disease  lesson  the  wheat  than  on  the 
corn  of  the  last  year  on  the  latest  marling,  and  none  perceptible 
on  the  oldest  application.  This  scourging  rotation  of  three  grain 
crops  in  four  years  was  particularly  improper  on  marled  land,  and 
the  more  so  on  account  of  its  poverty. 

1826.  White  clover  had  been  sown  thickly  over  forty-five  acres, 
including  this  part,  on  the  wheat,  in  January,  1825.  In  the  spring 
of  1826,  it  formed  a  beautiful  green  though  low  cover  on  even  the 
poorest  of  the  marled  land.  Marked  spots,  which  were  so  diseased 
by  over-marling  as  not  to  produce  a  grain  of  corn  or  wheat,  pro- 
duced clover  at  least  as  good  as  other  places  not  injured  by  that 
cause.  The  square,  which  had  been  sown  in  the  same  manner,  and 
on  which  the  plants  came  up  well,  had  no  clover  remaining  by 
April,  1826,  except  on  a  few  small  spots,  all  of  which  together 
would  not  have  made  three  feet  square.  The  piece  not  marled, 
white  with  poverty  grass,  might  be  seen,  and  its  outlines  traced,  at 
some  distance,  by  its  strong  contrast  with  the  surrounding  dark 
weeds  in  winter,  or  the  verdant  turf  of  white  clover  the  spring 
before. 

1827.  Still  at  rest.    No  grazing  allowed  on  the  white  clover. 

1828.  In  corn — the  land  broken  in  January,  five  inches  deep. 
October  14th,  made  the  following  measurements  : 

In  the  square  not  marled  (A),  105  by  104 h  feet  (thirty-six  square 
yards  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  acre),  made  one  barrel  of  ears — 

Bushels.     Pecks. 
Or  of  grain  to  the  acre  9         If 

The  same  in  1821 8       *1* 


Gain,  1         Oh 


Old  marling  (in  B)— 105  by  104 \  feet— 2 \  barrels,     22         2 
The  same  in  1821 22         01 


Gain,  li 

New  marling,  105  by  104  \  feet,  on  the  side  that  seemed  to  be  the 
most  diseased  (D),  1J  barrels — or  nearly  12  bushels  to  the  acre. 

[1832.  Again  in  corn.  Since  1826,  the  mild  four-shift  rotation 
had  been  regularly  adhered  to.  Ploughed  early  in  winter  five 
inches  deep,  and  again  with  two-horse  ploughs  just  before  planting, 
and  after  manuring  the  land  above  the  dotted  line  D  .r.  The  ma- 
nure was  from  the  stable  yard,  the  vegetable  part  of  it  composed 
of  straw,  corn-stalks,  corn-cobs,  and  leaves  raked  from  wood-land, 
had  been  heaped  in  a  wet  state  a  short  time  before,  and  was  still 


EFFECTS   AVITH   PUTRESCENT    MANURE. 


137 


hot  from  its  fermentation  when  carrying  to  the  field.  It  was  then 
about  half  rotted.  The  rate  at  which  it  was  applied  was  about 
807  heaped  bushels  to  the  acre,  which  was  too  heavy  for  the  best 
nett  profit."  The  corn  on  the  oldest  marling  (B)  showed  scarcely  a 
trace  of  remaining  damage,  while  that  on  D  2  (not  manured)  was 
again  much  injured.  On  the  manured  part,  D  1,  and  C,  the 
symptoms  of  disease  began  also  to  show  early ;  but  were  so  soon 
checked  by  the  operation  of  the  putrescent  manure,  that  very  little 
(if  any)  loss  could  have  been  sustained  from  that  cause.  Tho 
following  table  exhibits  all  the  measured  products  for  comparison : 


5 

DESCRIPTION. 

PRODUCT  IN  GRAIN,   PER   ACRE. 

1st  course 

2d  course 

3d  course 

4  th  course" 

00 

1821 

1824. 

1828. 

1832. 

Octobci 

October  14. 

October  20. 

Bush. 

pk. 

None  measur- 

Bush.    pk. 

Bush.     pk. 

A 

(  Not  marled,             ) 

8 

n 

ed,     but    the 

9       If 

9    21) 

Al 

-j  Not  ,marled  &  ma-  V 

product  of  B 

(      nured  in  1832,    J 

much  reduced 

the  same 

23     3   J 

C 

Marled    in    1822,  and 
manured  in  1832, 

by  excess   of 
marl,    and   D 

31    H 

B 

Iffarled  in  1821  (lightly) 

22 

0-> 

and  C  equally 

22      2 

25 

D  1 

Dl 

Marled  in  1822   (more 

injurcd    from 

heavily) 

the          same 

12 

17     3   ) 

The  same — and  manur- 

cause. 

\ 

J 

ed  in  1832, 

the  same 

34    3   J 

The  products  of  the  spaces  A  and  B,  in  1828,  were  not  only 
estimated  as  usual  from  the  measurement  of  the  corn  in  ears  (which 
estimated  quantities  arc  those  in  the  table),  but  they  were  also 
shelled  on  the  day  when  gathered,  and  the  grain  then  measured, 
and  again  some  months  after,  when  it  had  become  thoroughly  dry. 
Care  was  taken  that  there  should  be  no  waste  of  the  corn,  or  other 
cause  of  inaccuracy.  The  result  showed  nearly  double  the  loss 
from  shrinking  in  the  corn  not  marled,  and  of  course  a  proportional 
greater  comparative  increase  of  product  in  that  marled,  besides  the 
increase  which  appears  from  the  early  measurement  exhibited  in 
the  table.  The  grain  of  A,  not  marled,  when  first  shelled,  mea- 
sured a  very  little  more  than  the  quantity  fixed  by  estimate — made 
as  usual  by  measurement  of  the  ears,  and  lost  by  shrinking  30  per 
cent.  The  marled  grain,  from  B,  measured  at  first  above  4  per 
cent,  more  than  the  estimate,  and  after  shrinking,  fell  below  it  so 
much  as  to  show  the  loss  to  be  16  per  cent.  The  loss  from  shrink- 
ing in  this  case  was  greater  than  usual  in  both,  from  the  poverty 
and  consequent  backwardness  of  the  part  not  marled,  and  the  un- 
commonly large  proportion  of  replanted  and  of  course  late  corn  on 
the  whole. 
12* 


138  EFFECTS   WITH   TUTRESCENT   MANURE. 

The  two  last  experiments,  as  well  as  the  4th,  were  especially  de- 
signed to  test  the  amount  of  increased  product  to  be  obtained  from 
marling,  and  to  show  the  regular  addition  to  the  first  increase, 
which  the  theory  promised  at  each  renewal  of  tillage.  As  to  the 
main  objects,  all  the  three  experiments  have  proved  failures — and 
from  the  same  error,  that  of  marling  too  heavily.  Although,  for 
this  reason,  the  results  have  shown  so  much  of  the  injurious 
effects,  still,  taken  altogether,  the  experiments  prove,  clearly,  not 
only  the  great  immediate  benefit  of  applying  marl,  but  also  its  con- 
tinued and  increasing  good  effects  when  applied  in  proper  quantities. 
—1835.] 

Experiment  12. 

On  9  acres  of  sandy  loam,  marled  in  1819  at  400  bushels  (25 
per  cent.),  nearly  an  acre  was  manured  during  the  same  summer, 
by  penning  cattle.  With  the  expectation  of  preserving  the  ma- 
nure, double  the  quantity  of  marl,  or  800  bushels  in  all,  was  laid 
on  that  part.  The  field  in  corn  in  1820 ;  in  wheat,  1821 ;  and  at 
rest  1822  and  1823. 

Results,  1824.  In  corn,  the  second  rotation  after  marling.  The 
effects  of  the  dung  have  not  much  diminished,  and  that  part  shows 
no  damage  from  the  quantity  of  marl,  though  the  surrounding 
corn,  marled  only  half  as  thickly,  gave  signs  of  general,  though 
very  slight  injury  from  that  cause. 

Experiment  13. 

Nearly  two  acres  of  loamy  sand  were  covered  with  barn-yard 
manure,  and  marl  (45  per  cent.),  at  the  same  time,  in  the  spring 
of  1822,  and  the  field  put  in  corn  the  same  year,  followed  by  wheat. 
The  quantity  of  marl  not  remembered — but  it  must  have  been 
heavy  (say  not  less  than  six  hundred  bushels  to  the  acre),  as  it  was 
put  on  to  fix  and  retain  the  manure,  and  I  had  then  no  fear  of 
damage  from  heavy  dressings. 

Result,  1825.  Again  in  corn;  and  except  on  a  small  spot  of 
sand  almost  pure  (nearly  a  "  blowing  sand,"  or  liable  to  be  drifted 
by  high  winds  in  dry  weather),  no  signs  of  disease  from  over- 
marling  were  seen,  then  or  afterwards. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

EFFECTS  OF  CALCAREOUS  MANURES  ON  "  FREE  LIGIIT  LAND." 

Proposition  5 — continual. 

The  soil  known  in  this  part  of  the  country  by  the  name  of  "  free 
light  land"  has  so  peculiar  a  character  that  it  deserves  a  particular 
notice.  It  belongs  to  the  slopes  and  undulating  lands,  between  the 
highest  ridges  and  the  water-courses,  but  has  nothing  of  the  dura- 
bility which  slopes  of  medium  fertility  sometimes  possess.  In  its 
wood-land  state  it  would  be  called  rich,  and  may  remain  productive 
for  a  few  crops  after  being  cleared ;  but  it  is  rapidly  exhausted, 
and,  when  poor,  seems  as  unimprovable  by  vegetable  manures  as 
the  poorest  ridge  lands.  In  its  virgin  state,  this  soil  might  be  sup- 
posed to  deserve  the  name  of  neutral ;  but  its  productive  power  is 
so  fleeting,  and  acid  growths  and  qualities  so  surely  follow  its  ex- 
haustion, that  it  must  be  inferred  that  it  is  truly  an  acid  soil. 

Experiment  14. 
The  subject  of  this  experiment  presents  soil  of  this  kind  with 
its  peculiar  characters  unusually  well  marked.  It  is  a  loamy  sandy 
soil  (the  sand  coarse),  on  a  similar  sub-soil  of  considerable  depth. 
The  surface  waving,  almost  hilly  in  some  parts.  The  original 
growth  principally  red-oak,  hickory,  and  dogwood,  not  many  pines, 
and  very  little  -whortleberry.  Cut  down  in  1816,  and  put  in  cam 
the  next  year.  The  crop  was  supposed  to  be  twent3^-five  bushels  to 
the  acre.  Wheat  succeeded,  and  was  still  a  better  crop  for  so 
sandy  a  soil ;  making  twelve  to  fifteen  bushels,  as  it  appeai-ed 
standing.  After  18  months  of  rest,  and  not  grazed,  the  next  corn 
crop,  of  1820,  was  evidently  and  considerably  inferior  to  the  first; 
and  the  wheat  of  1821  (which  however  was  a  very  bad  crop,  from 
too  wet  a  season)  could  not  have  been  more  than  five  bushels  to 
the  acre.  In  January,  1820,  a  piece  of  li  acres  was  limed,  at  100 
bushels  the  acre.  The  lime,  being  caught  by  rain  before  it  was 
spread,  formed  small  lumps  of  mortar  on  the  land,  and  produced 
no  benefit  on  the  corn  of  that  year,  but  could  be  seen  slightly  in 
the  wheat  of  1821.  The  land  again  at  rest  in  1822  and  '23,  when 
it  was  marled,  at  GOO  bushels  (37  per  cent.),  without  omitting  the 
limed  piece;  and  all  sowed  in  wheat  that  fall.  In  1824,  the  wheat 
was  found  to  be  improved  by  the  marl,  but  neither  that,  nor  the 
next  crop  of  1828,  was  equal  to  its  earliest  product  of  wheat.  The 
limed  part  showed  injury  in  1824,  from  the  quantity  of  manure, 
but  none  since.     The  field  was  now  under  the  regular  four-shift 

(139) 


140  EFFECTS    ON    u  FREE   LIGHT   LAND." 

rotation,  and  continued  to  recover ;  but  did  not  surpass  its  first 
crop  until  1831,  when  it  brought  rather  more  than  thirty  bushels 
of  corn  to  the  acre  (estimated  by  the  eye) — being  five  or  six 
bushels  more  than  its  supposed  first  crop. 

Experiment  15. 

Adjoining  this  piece,  sis  acres  of  similar  soil  were  grubbed  and 
the  trees  belted  in  August,  1820 — marl  at  600  to  TOO  bushels  (37 
per  cent.),  spread  just  before.  But  few  of  the  trees  died  until  the 
summer  of  lxii7.  lb  l^^x.  planted  in  corn;  the  crop  did  not  ap- 
pear heavier  than  would  have  been  expected  if  no  marl  had  been 
applied;  but  no  part  had  been  left  without,  for  comparison.  1829, 
wheat.  1830,  at  rest.  1831,  in  corn,  and  the  product  supposed  to 
be  near  or  quite  thirty-five  bushels,  or  an  increase  of  thirty-five  or 
forty  per  cent,  on  the  first  crop.  No  measurement  was  made ;  but 
the  product  was  estimated  by  comparison  with  an  adjacent  piece, 
which  measured  thirty-one  bushels,  and  which  seemed  to  be  inferior 
to  this  piece. 

The  operation  of  marl  on  this  kind  of  soil  seems  to  add  to  the 
previous  product  ver}-  slowly,  compared  with  other  soils ;  but  it  is 
not  the  less  effectual  and  profitable  in  fixing  and  retaining  the  vege- 
table matter  accumulated  by  nature,  which  otherwise  would  be 
quickly  dissipated  by  cultivation,  and  lost  for  ever. 

The  remarkable  sandy  and  open  texture  of  the  soil  on  which  the  last 
two  experiments  were  tried,  will  be  evident  from  the  following  state- 
ment of  the  quantity  and  coarseness  of  the  silicious  sand  contained. 

1000  grains  of  this  soil,  taken  in  1826  from  the  part  that  had  been 
both  linied  and  marled,  was  found  to  consist  of 
811  of  silicious  sand  moderately  coarse,  mixed  with  a  few  grains 

of  coarse  shelly  matter  (the  remains  of  the  marl). 
158  finely  divided  earthy  matter,  part  fine  sand,  as  well  as  clay 
and  organic  matter. 
31  loss. 


1000 

At  the  same  time,  from  the  edge  of  the  adjoining  wood-land 
which  formed  the  next  described  experiment,  15,  and  which  had 
not  then  been  marled,  a  specimen  of  soil  was  taken  from  between 
the  depths  of  one  and  three  inches — and  found  to  consist  of  the 
following  proportions.  This  spot  was  believed  to  be  rather  lighter 
than  the  other  in  its  natural  state. 

grains  of  silicious  sand,  principally  coarse, 
107  finely  divided  earthy  matter  (partly  fine  sand),  Sec. 

-  -  loss. 

1000 


CHAPTER  XV. 

EFFECTS   OF  CALCAREOUS    MANURES   ON   EXHAUSTED  ACID    SOILS, 
UNDER   THEIR    SECOND    GROWTH   OF   TREES. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

Not  having  owned  much  land  under  a  second  growth  of  pine?,  I 
can  only  refer  to  two  experiments  of  this  kind.  The  improvement 
in  both  these  cases  has  been  so  remarkable,  as  to  induce  the  belief 
that  the  "  old  fields"  to  be  found  on  every  farm,  which  have  been 
exhausted  and  turned  out  of  cultivation  thirty  or  forty  years,  offer 
the  most  profitable  subjects  for  the  application  of  calcareous  manures. 

Experiment  16. 
May  1826.  Marled  about  eight  acres  of  land  under  its  second 
growth,  by  opening  paths  for  the  carts  ten  yards  apart.  Marl  40 
per  cent. ;  put  500  to  600  bushels  to  the  acre — and  spread  in  the 
course  of  the  summer.  In  August,  belted  slightly  all  the  pines 
that  were  as  much  as  eight  inches  through,  and  cut  down  or  grub- 
bed the  smaller  growth,  of  which  there  was  very  little.  The  pines 
(which  were  the  only  trees)  stood  thick,  and  were  mostly  from 
eight  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter — eighteen  inches  where  standing 
thin.  The  land  joined  experiment  15  on  one  side  ;  but  this  is 
level,  and  on  the  other  side  joins  ridge  wood-land,  which  soon  be- 
comes like  soil  of  experiment  1.  This  piece,  in  its  virgin  state, 
was  probably  of  a  nature  between  those  two  soils ;  but  less  like 
the  ridge  soil  than  the  "free  light  land."  No  information  has  been 
obtained  as  to  the  state  of  this  land  when  its  cultivation  was 
formerly  abandoned.  The  soil  (that  is,  the  depth  which  has  since 
been. turned  by  the  plough)  a  whitish  loamy  sand,  on  a  sub-soil  of 
the  same ;  in  fact,  all  teas  sub-soil  before  the  ploughing,  except 
half  an  inch  or  three  quarters,  on  the  top,  which  was  principally 
composed  of  rotted  pine  leaves.  Above  this  thin  layer  were  the 
later  dropped  and  unrotted  leaves,  lying  loosely  several  inches  thick. 
The  pines  showed  no  symptoms  of  being  killed,  until  the  autumn 
of  1827,  when  their  leaves  began  to  have  a  tinge  of  yellow.  To 
suit  the  cultivation  with  the  surrounding  laud,  this  piece  was  laid 
down  in  wheat  for  its  first  crop,  in  October,  1827.  For  this  pur- 
pose, the  few  logs,  the  boughs,  and  grubbed  bushes  were  heaped, 
but  not  burnt ;  the  seed  then  sowed  on  the  coat  of  pine  leaves,  and 
ploughed  in  by  two-horse  ploughs,  in  as  slovenly  a  manner  as  may 
be  supposed  from  the  condition  of  the  land ;  and  a  wooden-tooth 

(111) 


1-42  ON   LAND   OF   SECOND   GROWTH. 

harrow  then  passed  over,  to  pull  down  the  heaps  of  leaves,  and 
roughest  furrows.- 

Jiesults.  The  wheat  was  thin,  but  otherwise  looked  well  while 
young.  The  surface  was  very  soon  again  covered  by  the  leaves 
dropping  from  the  then  dying  trees.  On  April  2d,  182*,  most  of 
the  trees  were  nearly  dead,  though  but  few  of  them  entirely.  The 
wheat  was  then  taller  than  any  in  my  crop,  and,  when  ripe,  was  a 
surprising  growth  for  such  land,  and  such  imperfect  tillage. 

1829  and  1830.  At  rest.  Late  in  the  spring  of  1830  an  acci- 
dental fire  passed  over  the  land ;  but  the  then  growing  vegetation 
prevented  all  of  the  older  cover  being  burnt,  though  some  was 
destroyed  everywhere. 

1831.  In  corn.  The  growth  excited  the  admiration  of  all  who 
saw  it,  and  no  one  estimated  the  product  so  low  as  it  actually 
proved  to  be.  A  square  of  four  (two-pole)  chains,  or  four-tenths 
of  an  acre,  measured  on  November  25th,  yielded  at  the  rate  of 
thirty-one  and  three-eighths  bushels  of  grain  to  the  acre. 

Experiment  17. 
In  a  field  of  acid  sandy  loam,  long  under  the  usual  cultivation, 
a  piece  of  five  or  six  acres  was  covered  by  a  second  growth  of  pines 
thirty-nine  years  old,  as  supposed  from  that  number  of  rings  being 
counted  on  some  of  the  stumps.  The  largest  trees  were  eighteen 
or  twenty  inches  through.  This  ground  was  altogether  on  the 
side  of  a  slope,  steep  enough  to  lose  soil  by  washing,  and  more 
than  one  old  shallow  gully  remained  to  confirm  the  belief  of  the 
injury  that  had  been  formerly  sustained  from  that  cause.  These 
circumstances,  added  to  all  the  surrounding  land  having  been  con- 
tinued under  cultivation,  made  it  evident  that  this  piece  had  been 
turned  out  of  cultivation  because  greatly  injured  by  tillage.  It 
was  again  cut  down  in  the  winter  of  182-1-5.  Many  of  the  trees 
furnished  fence-rails  and  fuel,  and  the  remaining  bodies  were 
heaped  and  burnt  some  months  after,  as  well  as  the  large  brush. 
In  August  it  was  marled,  supposed  at  600  bushels  (37  per  cent.), 
twice  coultered  in  August  and  September,  and  sowed  in  wheat — 
the  seed  covered  by  trowel  ploughs.  The  leaves  and  much  of  the 
smaller  brush,  left  on  the  ground,  made  the  ploughing  troublesome 
and  imperfect.  The  crop  (1826)  was  remarkably  good;  and  still 
better  were  the  crops  of  corn  and  wheat  in  the  ensuing  rotation, 
after  two  years  of  rest.  On  the  last  crop  of  wheat  (1830)  clover 
"was  sown — and  mowed  for  hay  in  1831.  The  growth  stood  about 
eighteen  inches  high,  and  never  have  I  seen  so  heavy  a  crop  on 
sandy  and  acid  soil,  even  from  the  heaviest  dunging,  the  utmost 
care,  and  the  most  favourable  season.  The  clover  grew  well  in  the 
bottoms  of  the  old  gullies,  which  were  still  plainly  to  be  seen,  and 
which  no  means  had  been  used  to  improve,  except  such  as  all  the 


MARL   ON   CALCAREOUS   AND   NEUTRAL   SOILS.  1431 

land  had  received.     Within  two  feet  of  the  surface  the  sub-soil  of 
this  land  is  of  red  clay,  which  probably  helped  its  growth  of  clover. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

EFFECTS  OF  CALCAREOUS  MANURES  ALONE,  OR  WITH  GYFSUM,  ON 
CALCAREOUS  AND  NEUTRAL  SOILS. 

PitOFOSITION  5 — continued. 

Reason  had  taught  that  applications  of  calcareous  earth  alone 
to  calcareous  soils  were  so  manifestly  useless,  that  no  more  than  two 
experiments  of  that  kind  have  been  made  by  me,  of  which,  as  ex- 
pected, neither  had  any  improving  effect  that  could  be  noticed,  in 
the  twelve  ensuing  years  during  which  the  experiments  were  ob- 
served. 

When  calcareous  manures  have  been  applied  to  neutral  soils, 
whether  new  or  worn,  no  perceptible  and  manifest  benefit  has  been 
obtained  on  the  first  crop.  The  subsequent  improvement  has  gra- 
dually increased,  as  would  be  expected  from  the  power  of  fixing 
manures  ascribed  to  calcareoua  earth.  But  however  satisfactory 
these  general  results  were  to  myself,  they  are  not  such  as  could  be 
reported  in  detail,  with  any  advantage  to  other  persons.  It  is 
sufficiently  difficult  to  make  fair  and  accurate  experiments  where 
early  and  remarkable  results  are  expected.  But  no  cultivator  of  a 
farm  can  bestow  enough  care,  and  patient  observation,  to  obtain 
true  results  from  experiments  that  scarcely  will  show  their  first 
feeble  effects  in  several  years  after  the  commencement.  On  a  mere 
experimental  farm,  such  things  may  be  possible ;  but  not  where  the 
main  object  of  the  farmer  is  to  reap  profit  from  his  general  and 
varied  operations.  The  effects  of  changes  of  season,  of  crops,  of 
the  mode  of  tillage — the  auxiliary  effects  of  other  manures,  and 
many  other  circumstances — would  serve  to  defeat  any  observations 
of  the  progress  of  a  slow  improvement,  though  the  ultimate  result 
of  the  general  practice  might  be  abundantly  evident. 

Another  cause  for  being  unable  to  state  with  any  precision  the 
practical  benefit  of  marling  neutral  soils,  arises  from  the  circum- 
stance that  nearly  all  the  calcareous  manure  thus  applied  by  me 
has  been  accompanied  by  a  natural  admixture  of  gypsum ;  and 
though  I  feel  confident  in  ascribing  some  effects  to  one,  and  some 
to  the  other  of  these  two  kinds  of  manure,  yet  this  division  of 
operation  must  rest  merely  on  opinion,  and  cannot  be  received  as 
certain  by  any  other  than  him  who  makes  and  carefully  observes 


Ill  OYPSEOUS    MAUL   OP   C0GG1NS   POINT. 

the  experiments.     Some  of  these  applications  will  be  described, 
that  other  persons  may  draw  their  own  conclusions  from  them. 

The  cause  of  these  manures  being  applied  in  conjunction  was 
this.  A  singular  bed  of  marl  lying  under  Coggins  Point,  and  the 
only  one  within  a  convenient  distance  to  most  of  the  neutral  soil 
of  that  farm,  contains  a  very  small  proportion  (perhaps  about  one 
per  cent.)  of  gypsum,  scattered  irregularly  through  the  mass, 
seldom  visible,  though  sometimes  and  very  rarely  to  be  met  with 
in  small  crystals.  The  calcareous  ingredient,  on  a  general  average 
carefully  made,  was  found  to  be  62  per  cent.  If  this  manure  had 
been  used  before  its  gypseous  quality  was  discovered,  all  its  effects 
would  have  been  ascribed  to  calcareous  earth  alone,  and  the  most 
erroneous  opinions  might  thence  have  been  formed  of  its  mode  of 
operation. 

What  led  me  to  suspect  the  presence  of  gypsum,  in  this  bed  of 
fossil  shells,  was  the  circumstance  that  throughout  its  whole  extent, 
of  near  a  mile  along  the  river  bank,  this  bed  lies  on  another  earth, 
of  peculiar  character  and  appearance,  and  which,  in  many  places, 
exhibits  gypsuni  in  crystals  of  various  sizes.  This  earth  has  evi- 
dently once  been  a  bed  of  fossil  shells,  like  that  which  still  remains 
above ;  but  nothing  now  is  left  of  the  shells,  except  numerous  im- 
pressions of  their  forms.  Not  the  smallest  proportion  of  calcare- 
ous earth  can  be  found,  and  the  gypsum  into  which  it  must  have 
been  changed  (by  meeting  with  sulphuric  acid,  or  sulphuret  of 
iron)  has  also  disappeared  in  most  places ;  and  in  others,  it  remains 
only  in  small  quantities — say  from  the  smallest  perceptible  propor- 
tion, to  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  mixed  mass.  In  some 
rare  cases,  this  gypseous  earth  is  sufficiently  abundant  to  be  used 
profitably  as  manure,  as  has  been  done,  by  Mr.  Thomas  Cocke,  of 
Tarbay,  as  well  as  myself.  It  is  found  in  the  greatest  quantity, 
and  also  the  richest  in  gypsum,  at  Evergreen,  two  miles  below  City 
Point.  There  the  gypsum  frequently  forms  large  crystals  of  varied 
and  beautiful  forms.  The  distance  that  this  bed  of  gypseous  earth 
extends  is  about  seven  miles,  interrupted  only  by  some  bodies  of 
lower  land,  apparently  of  a  more  recent  formation  by  alluvion. 

In  the  bed  of  gypseous  marl  above  described,  there  are  regular 
layers  of  a  calcareous  rock,  which  was  too  hard  to  use  profitably  for 
manure,  and  which  caused  the  greatest  impediment  to  obtaining 
the  softer  part.  This  rock  contains  between  eighty-five  and  ninety 
per  cent,  of  pure  calcareous  earth,  besides  a  little  gypsum  and 
iron.  It  makes  excellent  lime  for  cement,  mixed  with  twice  its 
bulk  of  sand,  and  has  been  used  for  part  of  the  brick-work,  and  all 
the  plastering  of  my  present  dwelling-house  (at  Shellbanks),  and 
for  several  of  my  neighbours'  houses.  The  whole  body  of  marl 
also  contains  a  minute  proportion  of  some  soluble  salts,  which  pos- 


GYPSEOUS   MARL.  145 

sibly  may  have  some  influence  on  the  operation  of  the  substance, 
as  manure  or  cement. 

Thus,  from  the  examination  of  a  single  body  of  marl,  there  have 
been  obtained  not  only  a  rich  calcareous  manure,  but  also  gypsurn, 
and  a  valuable  cement.  Similar  formations  may  perhaps  be 
abundant  elsewhere,  and  their  value  unsuspected,  and  likely  to  re- 
main useless.  This  particular  body  of  marl  has  no  outward  ap- 
pearance of  possessing  even  its  calcareous  character.  It  would  be 
considered,  on  slight  inspection,  as  a  mass  of  gritty  clay,  of  no 
worth  whatever. 

[The  last  preceding  paragraphs  present,  as  in  the  previous  edi- 
tions, my  earliest  views  of  this  particular  bed  of  marl.  Further 
information  has  taught  that  it  is  of  the  eocene,  or  more  ancient 
formation;  and  that  the  underlying  stratum  (which  is  usually  not 
at  all  calcareous),  which  I  formerly  named  and  treated  of  as  "  gyp- 
seous earth/'  is  what  geologists  call  "  green-sand,"  a  term  still  less 
descriptive,  and  not  at  all  more  accurate.  A  full  account  of  both 
of  these  bodies  will  be  given  in  the  Appendix. — 1842.] 

This  gypseous  marl  has  been  used  only  on  sixty  acres,  most  of 
which  was  neutral  soil,  and  generally,  if  not  universally,  with 
early  as  well  as  permanent  benefits.  *  The  following  experiments 
show  results  more  striking  than  have  been  usually  obtained;  but 
all  agree  in  their  general  character. 

Experiment  18. 

1819.  Across  the  shelly  island  numbered  3  in  the  examinations 
of  soils  (page  60),  but  where  the  land  was  less  calcareous,  a  strip 
of  three-quarters  of  an  acre  was  covered  with  mussel-shell  marl,  a 
deposit  on  parts  of  the  river  banks  supposed  to  have  been  made  by 
the  aboriginal  inhabitants.  Adjoining  this,  through  its  whole 
length,  another  strip  was  covered  with  gypseous  marl,  53  per  cent., 
at  the  rate  of  250  bushels. 

Result*.  1819.  In  corn.  No  perceptible  effect  from  the  mussel- 
shells.  The  gypseous  marling  considerably  better  than  on  either 
side  of  it. 

1820.  "Wheat — less  difference. 

1821.  Grazed.  Natural  growth  of  white  clover  thickly  set  on 
the  gypseous  marling,  much  thinner  on  the  mussel-shells,  and  still 
less  of  it  where  no  marl  had  been  applied. 

The  whole  field  afterwards  was  put  in  wheat  on  summer  fallow 
every  second  year,  and  grazed  closely  the  intervening  year :  a 
course  very  unfavourable  for  observing,  or  permitting  to  take  place, 
:ui)r  effects  of  gypsum.  Nothing  more  was  noted  of  this  experi- 
ment until  1825,  when  cattle  were  not  turned  in  until  the  clover 
reached  its  full  size.  The  strip  covered  with  gypseous  marl 
showed  a  remarkable  superiority  over  the  other  marled  piece,  as 
13 


116  GYPSEOUS   MARL   OX   XLTTTtAL   SOILS. 

•well  as  over  the  land  which  was  still  more  calcareous  by  nature, 
and  which  had  produced  better  in  1820.  In  several  places,  the 
■white  clover  stood  thickly  a  foot  in  height. 

Experiment  19. 

A  strip  of  a  quarter  acre  passing  through  rich  black  neutral 
loam,  covered  with  gypeeoiia  marl  at  250  bushels. 

Us.  ISIS.  In  corn.  By  July,  the  marled  part  seemed  the 
best  by  50  per  cent.,  but  afterwards  the  other  land  gained  on  it, 
and  little  or  no  difference  was  apparent  when  the  crop  was  matured. 

Is  10.  "Wheat — no  difference  seen. 

1820  and  1821,  At  rest.  In  the  last  summer  the  marled  strip 
could  again  be  easily  traced,  by  the  entire  absence  of  sorrel  (which 
had  been  gradually  increasing  on  this  land  since  it  had  been 
secured  from  grazing),  and  still  more  by  its  very  luxuriant  growth 
of  bird-foot  clover,  which  was  thrice  as  good  as  that  on  the  adjoin- 
ing ground. 

Experiment  20. 

1822.  On  a  body  of  neutral  soil  which  had  been  reduced  quite 
low,  but  was  well  manured  in  1819  when  last  cultivated,  gypseous 
marl  was  spread  on  nine  acres,  at  the  rate  of  300  bushels.  This 
terminated  on  one  side  at  a  strip  of  mussel-shell  marl  ten  yards 
wide — its  rate  not  remembered,  but  it  was  certainly  thicker,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  calcareous  earth  contained,  than  the  other,  which  I 
always  avoided  laying  on  heavily,  from  a  mistaken  fear  of  causing 
injury  by  too  much  gypsum.  The  line  of  division  between  the 
two  marls  was  through  a  clay  loam.  The  sub-soil  was  a  retentive 
clay,  which  caused  the  rain  water  to  keep  the  land  very  wet  through 
the  winter,  and  early  part  of  spring. 

Us.  1822.  In  corn,  followed  by  wheat  in  1823 — not  particu- 
larly noticed,  but  the  benefits  must  have  been  very  inconsiderable. 
All  the  mussel-shell  marling,  and  four  acres  of  the  gypseous, 
sowed  in  red  clover,  which  stood  well,  but  was  severely  checked, 
and  much  of  it  killed,  by  a*  drought  in  June,  when  the  sheltering 
wheat  was  reaped.  During  the  next  winter  (by  neglect)  my 
horses  had  frequent  access  to  this  piece,  and  by  their  trampling  in 
its  wet  state  must  have  injured  both  land  and  clover.  From  these 
disasters  the  clover  recovered  surprisingly;  and  in  1S24,  two  mow- 
ings were  obtained,  which,  though  not  very  heavy,  were  better  than 
from  any  of  my  previous  attempts  to  raise  this  grass.  In  1825, 
the  growth  was  still  better,  and  yielded  more  to  the  scythe.  This 
wa?  the  first  time  that  I  had  seen  clover  worth  mowing  on  the 
third  year  after  sowing ;  and  had  never  heard  of  its  being  com- 
parable to  the  second  year's  growth  anywhere  in  the  lower  country. 
The  growth  on  the  mussel-shell  marling  was  very  inferior  to  the 


CAUSE   OF   THE   NON-ACTION   OP   GYPSUM.  147 

other,  and  was  not  mowed  at  all  the  last  year,  being  thin  and  low, 
and  almost  eaten  out  by  wire-grass  (Oynodon  dactykm). 

1826.  In  corn — and  it  was  remarkable  that  the  difference  sbown 
the  last  year  was  reversed,  the  mussel-shell  marling  now  having 
much  the  best  crop. 

In  these  and  other  applications  to  neutral  soils,  I  ascribe  the 
earliest  effects  entirely  to  gypsum,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  benefit 
shown  to  clover,  throughout.  The  later  effects,  and  especially  on 
grain,  arc  due  to  the  calcareous  earth  in  the  manure. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DIGRESSION  TO  TIIE  TIIEORY  OF  THE  ACTION  OF  GYPSUM  AS  MA- 
NURE. SUPPOSED  CAUSE  OF  ITS  WANT  OF  POWER  AND  VALUE 
ON  ACID  SOILS. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

Another  opinion  was  formed  from  the  effects  of  gypseous  marl, 
as  stated  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  which  may  lead  to  profits  much 
more  important  than  any  to  be  derived  from  the  limited  use  of  this, 
or  any  similar  mineral  compound — viz.  :  that  gypsum  may  be  pro~ 
fitably  used  <^£ter  calcareous  manures,  on  soils  on  which  it  teas 
tntidly  inefficient  before.  I  do  not  present  this  as  a  fact  fully  esta- 
blished, or,  even  if  established,  of  universal  application  ;  for  the 
results  of  some  of  my  own  experiments  are  directly  in  opposition. 
But,  however  it  may  be  opposed  by  some  facts,  the  greater  weight 
of  evidence,  furnished  by  my  experiments  and  observations,  de- 
cidedly supports  this  opinion.  If  correct,  its  importance  to  our 
low  country  is  inferior  only  to  the  value  of  calcareous  manures 
alone — which  value  may  be  almost  doubled,  if  the  land  is  thereby 
fitted  to  receive  the  wonderful  benefits  of  gypsum  on  clover. 

It  is  well  known  that  gypsum  has  failed  entirely  as  a  manure  on 
nearly  all  the  land  on  which  it  has  been  tried  in  our  tide-water 
district;  and  we  may  learn  from  various  publications,  that  as  little 
general  success  has  been  met  with  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  as  far 
north  as  Long  Island.  To  account  for  this  general  failure  of  a 
manure  so  efficacious  elsewhere,  some  one  offered  a  reason,  which 
was  received  without  examination,  and  which  is  still  considered  by 
many  as  sufficient,  viz. :  that  the  influence  of  salt  vapours  destroyed 
the  power  of  gypsum  on  and  near  the  sea-coast.  But  the  same 
general  worthlessness  of  that  manure  extends  one  hundred  miles 
higher  than  the  salt  water  of  the  rivers,  and  the  lands  where  it  is 


148  NON-ACTION   OF   GYPSUM   ON   ACID   SOILS. 

profitably  used  are  much  more  exposed  to  sea  air.  Such  are  the 
rich  neutral  soils  of  Curie's  Neck,  Shirley,  Berkley.  Westover, 
Brandon,  and  Sandy  Point,- on  James  river,  on  all  which  gypsum 
on  clover  has  been  extensively  and  profitably  used,  in  advance  of 
marling  or  liming.  On  acid  soils,  I  have  never  heard  of  enough 
benefit  being  obtained  from  gypsum  to  induce  the  cultivator  to  ex- 
tend its  use  further  than  making  a  few  small  experiments.  When 
any  effect  has  been  produced  on  an  acid  soil  (so  far  as  known  from 
my  own  experience,  or  the  information  of  others),  it  has  been 
caused  by  appbying  to  small  spaces  comparatively  large  quantities; 
and  even  then,  the  effects  were  neither  considerable,  durable,  nor 
profitable.  Such  have  been  the  results  of  many  small  experiments 
made  on  my  own  acid  soils — and  very  rarely  was  the  least  percepti- 
ble effect  produced.     Yet  on  some  of  the  same  soils,  after  marling, 

.  the  most  evident  benefits  have  been  obtained  from  gypsum  on 
clover.  The  soils  on  which  the  1st  and  10th  experiments  were 
made  Tat  some  distance  from  these  experiments)  had  both  been 
tried  with  gypsum,  and  at  different  rates  of  thickness,  before  marl- 
ing, without  the  least  effect.  Several  years  after  both  had  been 
marled,  gypseous  earth  (from  the  bed  referred  to,  page  111)  was 
spread  at  twenty  bushels  the  acre  (which  gave  four  bushels  of  pure 
gypsum*)  on  clover,  and  produced  in  some  parts  a  growth  1  have 
never  seen  surpassed.  It  is  proper  to  state  that  such  results  have 
been  produced  only  by  heavy  dressings.  Mr.  Thomas  Cocke,  of 
Tarbay,  in  the  spring  of  lbol  sowed  nearly  four  tons  of  Nova 
Scotia  gypsum  on  clover  on  marled  land,  the  field  being  a  continua- 
tion of  the  same  ridge  that  my  1st,  2d,  3d,  and  4fh  experiments 
were  made  on,  and  very  similar  soil.  His  dressing,  at  a  bushel  to 
the  acre,  before  the  summer  had  passed,  produced  evident  benefit, 
where  it  is  absolutely  certain,  from  abundant  previous  experience, 
that  none  could  have  been  obtained  before  marling. 

On  soils  naturally  calcareous,  I  have  in  some  experiments  greatly 
promoted  the  growth  of  corn  by  gypsum,  and  have  doubled  the 
growth  of  clover  on  my  best  land  of  that  kind.  When  the  marl 
containing  gypsum  was  applied,  benefit  from  that  ingredient  was 
almost  certain  to  be  obtained. 

All  these  facts,  if  presented  alone,  would  seem  to  prove  clearly 
the  correctness  of  the  opinion,  that  the  acidity  of  most  of  our  soils 

'  caused  the  inefficacy  of  gypsum,  and  that  the  application  of  calca- 
reous earth,  which  will  remove  the  acid,  will  also  serve  to  bring 
gypsum  into  useful  operation.  But  this  most  desirable  conclusion 
is  opposed  by  the  results  of  other  experiments,  which,  though 
fewer  in  number,  are  as  strong  as  any  of  the  facts  which  favour  that 

*  There  was  very  little  of  the  gypseous  earth  so  rich  as  this  limited 
layer — which  was  soon  all  removed  for  use. 


NOX-ACTION   OF   GYPSUM   ON   ACID   SOILS.  149 

conclusion.  If  the  subject  were  properly  investigated,  these  facts, 
apparently  in  opposition,  might  be  explained  so  as  no  longer  to 
contradict  this  opinion,  or  perhaps  might  help  to  confirm  it.  Good 
reasons,  deduced  from  established  chemical  truths,  may  be  offered 
to  explain  why  the  acidity  of  our  soils  should  prevent  the  operation 
of  gypsum ;  though  it  may  be  deemed  premature  to  attempt  the 
explanation  of  any  supposed  fact,  before  every  doubt  of  the 
existence  of  the  fact  itself  has  been  first  removed. 

One  of  the  circumstances  will  be  mentioned,  which  appears  at 
first  glance  most  strongly  opposed  to  the  opinion  which  has  been 
advanced.  On  the  poor  acid '  clay  soil,  of  such  peculiar  and  baso 
qualities,  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  5th,  Gth,  and  7th  experi- 
ments, gypsum  has  been  sufficiently  tried,  and  has  not  produced 
the  least  benefit,  either  before  marling,  or  afterwards.  Yet  the 
first  growth  of  clover  on  this  land  after  marling  is  fully  equal  to 
what  might  be  expected  from  the  best  operation  of  gypsum.  Now 
if  it  could  be  ascertained  that  a  very  small  proportion  of  either 
sulphuric  acid,  or  of  the  sulphate  of  iron,  exists  in  this  soil,  it 
would  completely  explain  away  this  opposing  fact,  and  even  make 
it  the  strongest  support  of  my  position.  The  sulphate  of  iron  has 
sometimes  been  found  in  arable  soil,*  and  sulphuric  acid  has  been 
detected  in  certain  clays. f  I  have  seen,  on  the  same  farm,  a  bed 
of  clay  of  very  similar  appearance  to  this  soil,  which  certainly  had 
once  contained  one  of  these  substances,  as  was  proved  by  the  form- 
ation of  crystallized  sulphate  of  lime,  where  the  clay  came  in  con- 
tact with  a  bed  of  marl.  The  sulphate  of  lime  was  found  in  the 
small  fissures  of  the  clay,  extendiug  sometimes  one  or  two  feet  in 
perpendicular  height  from  the  calcareous  earth  below.  Precisely 
the  same  chemical  change  would  take  place  in  a  soil  containing 
sulphuric  acid,  or  sulphate  of  iron,  as  soon  as  marl  is  applied.  The 
sulphuric  acid  (whether  free  or  combined  with  iron)  would  imme- 
diately unite  with  the  lime  presented,  and  form  gypsum  (sulphate 
of  lime).  Proportions  of  these  substances,  too  small  perhaps  to  be 
detected  by  analysis,  would  be  sufficient  to  form  three  or  four 
bushels  of  gypsum  to  the  acre — more  than  enough  to  produce  the 
greatest  known  effect  on  clover — and  to  prevent  any  benefit  being 
derived  from  a  subsequent  application  of  gypsum ;  because  there 
being  already  in  the  soil  more  gypsum  than  could  act,  no  additional 
quantity  could  be  of  the  slightest  benefit.^ 

*  Davy's  Agr.  Cliem.  p.  141.  f  Kinvan  on  Manures. 

[J  Confirmatory  testimony. — Johnston  lias  since  fully  sustained  this  rea- 
soning, by  chemical  facts.  Besides  the  sulphate  of  iron,  he  names  the  sul- 
phates of  alumina  and  magnesia  as  occasionally  present  in  soils,  and  liable 
to  be  hurtful  to  plants,  lie  adds:  "When  soils  which  contain  any  of  the 
three  salts  I  have  named,  have  once  been  limed  or  marled,  it  is  hi  vain  to 

13* 


150  GYPSUM    MADE   ACTIVE    ON    MARLED   LAND. 

[Since  the  publication  of  the  foregoing  part  of  this  chapter,  in 
the  edition  of  1832,  my  use  of  gypsum,  on  land  formerly  acid,  has 
been  more  extended,  and  the  results  have  been  such  as  to  give  ad- 
ditional confidence  in  the  practice,  and,  indeed,  an  assurance  of 
good  profit,  on  the  average  of  such  applications.  But  still,  as  be- 
fore, disappointments,  either  total  or  nearly  so,  in  the  effect  of  such 
applications,  have  sometimes  occurred,  and  without  there  being 
any  known  or  apparent  cause  to  which  to  attribute  such  disappoint- 
ment in  the  results. 

In  1882,  nine  acres  of  the  same  body  of  ridge  land  above  re- 
ferred to,  adjoining  the  piece  on  which  the  1st,  2d,  3d,  and  4th 
experiments  were  made,  and  more  lately  cleared,  were  sown  in 
clover  in  the  early  part  of  1831,  on  wheat.  The  next  spring, 
French  gypsuui  was  sown  at  the  rate  of  a  bushel  to  the  acre,  ex- 
cept on  four  marked  adjoining  squares,  each  about  one-third  of  an 
acre,  one  of  which  was  left  without  gypsum,  and  the  others  received 
it  at  the  several  rates  of  2,  3,  and  4  bushels  to  the  acre.  The 
whole  brought  a  middling  crop,  and  was  mowed  for  hay,  except  the 
square  left  without  gypsum,  which  did  not  produce  more  than  half 
as  much  as  the  adjoining  land  where  gypsum  was  applied  at  one 
bushel  the  acre.  The  products  of  the  other  pieces  were  slightly 
increased  by  each  addition  to  the  gypsum,  but  by  no  means  in 
proportion  to  the  increased  quantity  used;  nor  was  the  effect  of  the 
four  bushels  near  equal  to  that  formerly  obtained,  in  several  cases, 
from  20  bushels  of  gypseous  earth  taken  from  the  river  bank. 
Hence  it  seems  that  it  was  not  merely  the  unusual  quantity  of 
gypsum  applied  in  this  earth,  which  produced  such  remarkable 
benefit ;  and  we  must  infer  that  it  contains  some  other  quality  or 
ingredient  capable  of  giving  additional  improvement  to  clover. 
—1835.] 

[Since  the  first  publication  of  the  foregoing  passage  (in  1835), 
and  in  accordance  with  the  views  there  presented,  more  than  10 
tons  of  good  French  gypsum  has  been  used,  in  different  years  and 
with  less  effect,  in  geueral,  than  formerly,  in  the  first  few  years 
after  the  marling.  This  general  diminution,  and  more  frequent 
total  failures,  may  be  owing  to  the  longer  time  that  the  land  has 
been  marled,  and,  by  the  increase  of  its  vegetable  supplies  serving 
as  putrescent  manure,  the  land  being  thereby  changed  from  calca- 
reous to  neutral,  and  perhaps  in  some  cases  even  approaching  again 
to  being  acid.  If  this  supposition  be  well  founded,  then  a  repetition 
of  the  marling  would  not  only  be  profitable  in  other  respects,  but 

apply  gypsum  for  favouring  the  clover  crop,  since  the  lime,  in  decomposing 
the  sulphates,  has  already  formed  an  abundant  supply  of  this  compound 
for  all  the  purposes  of  vegetation."   Lectures  on  Agr.  Chem. — p.  414.] 


TIIEORY  OF  TIIE   NON-ACTION   OF   GYFSUM.  151 

would  increase  or  restore  the  capacity  of  the  soil  to  receive  benefit 
from  gypsum. — 1842.] 

1832. — The  following  are  my  views  of  the  general  causes  of  the 
inertness  and  worthlessness  of  gypsum  as  manure,  on  all  acid  soils, 
and  for  the  different  and  valuable  results  from  gypsum,  after  the 
soils  have  been  made  calcareous. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  explain  the  mode  of  operation  by  which 
avpsum  produces  its  almost  magical  benefits ;  it  would  be  equally 
hopeless  and  ridiculous  for  one  having  so  little  knowledge  of  the 
successful  practice  to  attempt  an  explanation,  in  which  so  many 
good  chemists  and  agriculturists,  both  scientific  and  practical,  have 
completely  failed.  There  is  no  operation  of  nature  heretofore  less 
understood,  or  of  which  the  cause,  or  agent,  seems  so  totally  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  effect,  as  the  enormous  increase  of  vegetable 
growth  from  a  very  small  quantity  of  g}?psum,  in  circumstances 
favourable  to  its  action.  All  other  known  manures,  whatever  may 
be  the  nature  of  their  action,  require  to  be  applied  in  quantities  very 
far  exceeding  any  bulk  of  crop  expected  from  their  use.  But  one 
bushel  of  gypsum  spread  over  an  acre  of  land  fit  for  its  action,  may 
add  more  than  twenty  times  its  own  weight  to  a  single  crop 
of  clover  hay. 

But  without  pretending  to  account  for  the  wonderful  action  of 
gypsum  as  manure,  and  without  entertaining  any  confidence  in  any 
of  the  numerous  theories  heretofore  presented,  [not  excepting  the 
latest  set  forth,  by  Professor  Liebig],  I  concur  in  the  general 
opinion  expressed  by  Davy.  This  accurate  investigator,  who  took 
nothing  upon  trust  which  could  be  subjected  to  the  test  of  rigid 
experiment,  pursued  that  mode  to  obtain  light  on  this  obscure  sub- 
ject. He  found  by  chemical  analysis,  that  gypsum  was  always 
present  in  the  ashes  of  red  clover,  and  in  quantity,  in  a  good  crop, 
amounting  to  three  or  four  bushels  to  the  acre.  He  inferred  that 
gypsum,  thus  always  forming  a  portion  of  the  clover  plant,  was 
essential  to  its  healthy  existence ;  and  that  it  is  necessary  to  the 
structure  of  the  woody  fibre  of  clover  and  other  grasses.  But  it  is 
enough  if  Davy  was  correct  in  the  main  opinion,  that  a  certain 
though  very  small  proportion  of  gypsum  is  an  essential  component 
part  of  certain  plants,  of  which  the  clover  tribe  furnishes  the  most 
noted  examples.  If  this  be  so,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  office 
or  function  of  the  gypsum,  the  small  amount  necessary  for  the  de- 
mands of  the  plants  must  be  jwesent  in  the  soil,  or  otherwise  'the 
plants  needing  it  cannot  Hoe,  or  maintain  a  healthy  growth.  It  will 
follow,  further,  that  on  soils  well  adapted  for  clover  in  other 
respects,  but  almost  totally  deficient  in  gypsum,  the  application 
of  so  small  a  dressing  as  one  bushel  of  that  substance  to  the  acre 
may  enable  a  full  crop  of  clover  to  grow,  and  twice  or  thrice  as 
much  as  the  land  could  have  brought  without  this  small  application. 


152  THEORY   OF   GYPSUM   ON   ACID   SOILS. 

Such  I  suppose  to  be  the  circumstances  of  those  lands  of  this 
country  on  which  gypsum  exerts  the  greatest  power.  But  in  Eng- 
land, though  clover  culture  is  universally  extended,  gypsum  has 
shown  scarcely  any  benefit  as  manure,  and  though  extensively 
experimented  with,  has  not  been  found  sufficiently  operative  to  be 
brought  into  ordinary  practice  on  any  one  farm  in  the  kingdom. 
This  may  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  the  soils  generally  to  be 
supplied  by  nature  abundantly  with  gypsum,  so  that  no  more  is  re- 
fjuired.  Davy  found  gypsum  in  the  soil  itself  of  four  farms, 
examined  with  this  view,  and  in  one  of  them  the  very  large  propor- 
tion of  nearly  one  per  cent.  (Agricultural  Chemistry,  Lecture  vii.) 
But  there  is  another  and  numerous  class  of  cases  in  which  gypsum 
cannot  be  supposed  to  be  present,  and  yet  when  applied  shows  no 
benefit.  These  are  the  poor  acid  soils  of  lower  Virginia  (and  else- 
where), and  the  cause  of  which  it  seems  to  me  not  difficult  to 
explain. 

However  wonderful  and  inscrutable  the  fertilizing  power  of  this 
manure  may  be,  and  admitting  its  cause  as  yet  to  be  hidden,  and 
entirely  beyond  our  reach,  still  it  is  possible  to  show  reasons  why 
gypsum  cannot  act  in  many  situations,  where  all  experience  has 
proved  it  to  be  worthless.  If  this  only  can  be  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained, it  will  remove  much  of  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  effects  to 
be  expected ;  and  the  firmer  may  thence  learn  on  which  soils  he 
may  hope  for  benefit  for  this  manui'e,  on  which  it  will  certainly 
be  thrown  away,  and  by  what  means  the  circumstances  adverse  to 
its  action  may  be  removed,  and  its  efficacy  thereby  secured.  This 
is  the  explanation  that  I  shall  attempt. 

If  the  vegetable  acid,  which  I  suppose  to  exist  in  what  I  have 
called  acid  soils,  is  not  in  part  the  oxalic  (which  is  the  particular 
acid  in  sorrel),  at  least,  every  vegetable  acid,  being  composed  of 
different  proportions  of  the  same  three  elements,  may  easily  change 
to  any  other,  and  all  to  the  oxalic  acid.  This,  of  all  bodies  known 
by  chemists,  has  the  strongest  attraction  for  lime,  and  will  take  it 
from  any  other  acid  which  was  before  combined  with  it  •  and  for 
that  purpose,  the  oxalic  acid  will  let  go  any  other  earth  or  metal, 
which  it  had  before  held  in  combination.  Let  us  then  observe 
what  would  be  the  effect  of  the  known  chemical  action  of  these 
substances,  on  their  meeting  in  soils.  If  oxalic  acid  were  produced 
in  any  soil,  its  immediate  effect  would  be  to  unite  with  its  proper 
proportion  of  lime,  if  enough  were  in  the  soil  in  any  combination 
whatever.  If  the  lime  were  in  such  small  quantity  as  to  leave  an 
excess  of  oxalic  acid,  that  excess  would  seize  on  the  other  substances 
in  the  soil,  in  the  order  of  their  mutual  attractive  forces;  and  one 
or  more  of  such  substances  are  always  present,  as  magnesia,  or,  more 
certainly,  iron  and  alumina.  The  soil  then  would  not  only  contain 
some  proportion  of  the  oxalate  oflimei  but  also  the  oxalate  of  either 


GYPSUM    ON    ACID    SUILS.  153 

one  or  more  of  the  other  substances  named.  Let  us  now  suppose 
gypsum  to  be  applied  to  this  soil.  The  substance  (sulphate  of  lime)  \ 
is  composed  of  sulphuric  acid  and  lime.  It  is  applied  in  a  finely 
pulverized  state,  and  in  quantities  from  half  a  bushel  to  two  bushels 
the  acre — generally  not  more  than  one  bushel.  As  soon  as  the 
earth  is  made  wet  enough  for  any  chemical  decomposition  to  take 
place,  the  oxalic  acid  must  let  go  its  base  of  iron  or  alumina,  and 
seize  upon  and  combine  with  the  lime  that  formed  an  ingredient 
of  the  gypsum.  The  sulphuric  acid  left  free,  will  combine  with 
the  iron,  or  the  alumina  of  the  soil,  forming  copperas  in  the  one 
case,  and  alum  in  the  other.  The  gypsum  no  longer  exists — 
and  surely  no  more  satisfactory  reason  can  be  given  why  no  effect 
from  gypsum  should  follow.  The  decomposition  of  the  gypsum  has 
served  to  form  two  or  perhaps  three  other  substances.  One  of  them, 
oxalate  of  lime,  like  all  salts  of  lime,  is  probable  valuable  as  manure; 
but  the  very  small  quantity  that  could  be  formed  out  of  one  or  even 
two  bushels  of  gypsum,  might  have  no  more  visible  effect  on  a 
whole  acre,  than  that  small  quantity  of  calcareous  earth,  or  farm- 
yard manure.  The  other  substance  certainly  formed,  copperas,  is 
kuown  to  be  a  poison  to  soil  and  to  plants — and  alum,  of  which  the 
formation  would  be  doubtful,  I  believe  is  also  hurtful.  In  such 
small  quantities,  however,  the  poison  would  be  as  little  perceptible 
as  the  manure ;  and  no  apparent  effect  whatever  could  follow  such 
an  application  of  gypsum  to  an  acid  soil.  So  small  a  proportion  of 
oxalic  axid,  or  any  oxalate  other  than  of  lime,  would  suffice  to  de- 
compose and  destroy  the  gypsum,  that  it  would  not  amount  to  one 
part  in  twenty  thousand  of  the  soil. 

Why  gypsum  sometimes  acts  as  a  manure  on  acid  soils  when 
applied  in  large  quantities  for  the  space,  is  equally  well  explained 
by  the  same  theory.  If  a  handful,  or  even  a  spoonful  of  gypsum 
is  put  on  a  space  of  six  inches  square,  it  would  so  much  exceed  in 
proportion  all  the  oxalic  or  other  vegetable  acid  that  could  speedily 
come  in  contact  with  it,  that  all  would  not  be  decomposed,  and  the 
part  that  continued  to  be  gypsum  would  show  its  peculiar  powers 
perhaps  long  enough  to  improve  one  crop.  But  as  tillage  served 
to  scatter  these  little  collections  more  equally  over  the  whole  space 
— or  even  as  repeated  soaking  rains  allowed  the  extension  of  the 
attractive  powers — applications  like  these  would  also  be  destroyed, 
after  a  very  short-lived,  limited,  and  rarely  profitable  action. 

Soils  that  arc  naturally  calcareous,  or  even  neutral,  cannot  con- 
tain oxalic  acid  combined  with  any  other  base  than  lime.  Hence, 
gypsum  applied  there  eontinucs  to  be  gypsum,  and  exerts  its  great 
fertilizing  power,  as  in  the  counties  of  Loudoun  and  Frederick. 
But  even  on  these  most  suitable  soils,  this  manure  is  said  not  to 
be  certain  and  uniform  in  its  effects  ;  and,  of  course,  more  certaiu 
results  are  not  to  be  looked  for  with  us.     I  have  not  undertaken 


151  GYPSUM    ON   ACID    SOILS. 

to  explain  its  occasional  failures  any  more  than  its  general  sucn 
on  the  lands  where  it  is  profitably  used  in  general — but  only  why 
it  cannot  act  at  all,  on  lands  of  a  different  kind. 

The  same  chemical  action  being  supposed,  explains  why  tho 
power  of  profiting  by  gypsum  should  be  immediately  awakened  on 
acid  soils  after  making  them  calcareous ;  and  why  that  manure 
should  seldom  fail,  when  applied  mixed  with  much  larger  quantities 
of  calcareous  earth. 

[When  the  foregoing  attempt  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  non- 
action of  gypsum  on  acid  soils  was  written,  and  first  published  in  18o2 
(as  it  here  appears  distinguished  from  the  later  additions),  the  dis- 
covery of  httmic  acid  by  European  chemists  was  not  known  to  me, 
and  its  very  general  existence  in  soils,  now  universally  recognised, 
was  scarcely  known  to  an}'.  Without  pretending  to  identify  the 
acid  of  soil  whose  existence  I  maintained,  as  early  as  1818,  to  be 
almost  universally  present  and  injurious  in  this  country,  it  is  now 
clear  and  unquestioned  that  the  humic  acid  is  thus  plentifully  and 
generally  diffused.  The  effects  ascribed  above  to  the  supposed 
oxalic  acid,  of  decomposing  and  destroying  sulphate  of  lime  when 
applied  as  manure,  may  be  as  much  produced  by  the  actually  pre- 
sent humic  acid.  For,  not  only  is  the  latter  convertible  to  the 
former,  as  above  argued  of  all  vegetable  acids,  but,  without  the 
need  of  such  conversion,  the  humic  acid  is  now  understood  to  have 
the  like  power  of  decomposing  sulphate  of  lime.  This  is  stated 
fully  and  distinctly  in  a  very  recent  publication  (Browne's  Ame- 
rican Muck  Book,  1852),  as  follows  :  "  Gypsum  is  decomposed  by 
carbonate  and  muriate  of  barytes,  the  carbonates  of  strontia, 
potash,  soda,  and  ammonia,  as  well  as  by  oxalic  and  humic  acids, 
and  where  any  of  the  four  last  named  occur  naturally  in  the  soil, 
or  are  applied  by  artificial  means,  new  combinations  take  place, 
which  arc  attended  in  some  cases  with  beneficial  results. 
If,  however,  it  [the  soil]  contains  too  much  free  humio  acid,  it  icitf 
decompose  the  gypsum,  so  that  humate  of  lime  will  be  formed,  and 
the  sulphuric  acid  set  free,  which  may  then  act  as  a  corrosive  on  the 
roots  of  plants"  (p.  71.)  Nothing  is  wanting  to  the  fullest  and 
clearest  establishment  of  my  doctrine  as  stated  above,  except  that 
the  humic  acid,  like  the  oxalic,  has  stronger  affinity  for  lime  than 
the  sulphuric,  and  therefore  will  decompose  sulphate  of  lime 
(gypsum),  and  form  instead  humate  of  lime,  of  which  the  effect 
as  manure  is  altogether  different.  And  that  humic  acid  (or  what- 
ever may  be  the  acid  of  soil)  really  has  this  stronger  affinity  for 
lime,  is  sustained  by  enough  agricultural  facts  within  my  personal 
observation,  even  if  the  proposition  had  no  support  whatever  from 
chemical  science. — 1852.] 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  DAMAGE  CAUSED  BY   TOO   IIEAVY  DRESSINGS  OF  CALCAREOUS 
MANURE,  AND  THE  REMEDY. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

The  injury  or  disease  in  grain  crops  produced  by  marling  has 
so  lately  been  presented  to  our  notice,  that  the  collection  and  com- 
parison of  many  additional  facts  will  be  required  before  its  causo 
can  be  satisfactorily  explained.  But  the  facts  already  ascertained 
■will  at  least  show  how  to  avoid  the  danger  of  such  injury  in  future, 
and  to  find  remedies  for  the  evils  already  inflicted  by  the  injudi- 
cious use  of  calcareous  manures. 

The  earliest  effect  of  this  kind  observed  was  in  May,  1824,  on 
the  field  containing  experiment  10.  The  corn  on  the  land  marled 
four  years  before  sprang  up  and  grew  with  all  the  vigour  and  luxu- 
riance that  was  expected  from  the  appearance  of  increased  fertility 
exhibited  by  the  soil,  as  before  described  (page  133.)  About  the 
20th  of  May  the  change  commenced,  and  the  worst  symptoms  of 
the  disease  were  seen  by  the  11th  of  June.  Prom  having  as  deep 
a  colour  as  young  corn  shows  on  the  richest  and  best  soils,  it  be- 
came of  a  pale  sickly  green.  The  leaves,  when  closely  examined, 
seemed  almost  transparent,  afterwards  were  marked  through  their 
whole  length  by  streaks  of  rusty  red,  separated  very  regularly  by 
other  streaks  of  what  was  then  more  of  yellow  than  green ;  and 
next  they  began  to  shrivel  and  die  downwards  from  their  extremi- 
ties. The  growth  of  many  of  the  plants  was  nearly  stopped. 
Still  some  few  showed  no  sign  of  injury,  and  maintained  the 
vigorous  growth  which  they  began  with,  so  as  by  contrast  more 
strongly  to  mark  the  general  loss  sustained.  The  appearance  of 
the  field  was  such,  that  a  stranger  would  have  supposed  that  ho 
saw  the  crop  on  a  rich  soil  exposed  to  the  worst  ravages  of  some 
destructive  kind  of  insects;  but  neither  on  the  roots  or  stalks  of 
the  corn  could  any  thing  be  found  to  support  that  opinion.  Before 
the  first  of  August  this  gloomy  prospect  had  somewhat  improved. 
Most  of  the  plants  seemed  to  have  been  relieved  of  the  inflictiou, 
and  to  grow  again  with  renewed  vigour.  But  before  that  timo 
many  were  dead,  and  it  was  impossible  that  the  others  could  so 
fully  recover  as  to  produce  anything  approaching  a  full  crop  for 
the  land.  It  has  been  shown  in  the  report  of  the  products  of  Exp. 
10,  what  diminution  of  crop  was  then  sustained,  and  that  the  evil 
was  not  abated   in  the  three  succeeding  courses  of  cultivation, 

(155) 


156  DISEASED   CROPS   CAUSED   BY    HOUHTO. 

Still,  neither  of  the  diseased  measured  pieces  has  fallen  quite  as 
low  as  its  product  before  marling ;  nor  do  I  think  that  such  has 
been  the  result  on  any  one  acre  together  on  my  farm,  though  many 
smaller  spots  have  been  rendered  incapable  of  yielding  even  so 
much  as  a  grain  of  corn  or  wheat. 

The  injury  caused  to  wheat  by  marling  is  not  so  easy  to  describe, 
though  abundantly  evident  to  the  observer.  Its  earliest  growth, 
like  that  of  corn,  is  not  affected.  About  the  time  for  heading,  the 
plants  most  diseased  appear  as  if  they  were  scorched,  and  when 
ripe  will  be  found  very  deficient  in  grain.  On  very  poor  spots, 
from  which  nearly  all  the  soil  has  been  washed,  sometimes  fifty 
heads  of  wheat,  taken  together,  would  not  furnish  as  many  grains 
of  wheat.  This  crop,  however,  suffers  less  than  corn  on  the  same 
land ;  perhaps  because  its  growth  is  nearly  completed  by  the  time 
that  the  warm  season  begins,  to  which  the  ill  effects  of  calcareous 
manures  seem  confined.  The  injury  to  corn  is  also  greater  in  a 
wet  than  a  drier  summer. 

When  these  unpleasant  discoveries  were  first  made,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  had  already  been  marled  so  heavily  that  the  same 
evil  was  to  be  expected  to  visit  the  whole.  My  labours,  thus  be- 
stowed for  years,  had  been  greatly  and  unnecessarily  increased  \ 
and  the  excess,  worse  than  being  thrown  away,  had  served  to  take 
away  that  increase  of  crop  which  lighter  marling  would  have 
insured.  But  though  much  and  general  injury  was  afterwards 
sustained  from  the  previous  work,  yet  it  was  lessened  in  extent  and 
degree,  and  sometimes  entirely  avoided,  by  the  remedial  measures 
which  were  adopted.  My  observation  and  comparison  of  all  the 
facts  presented,  led  to  the  following  contusions,  and  pointed  out 
the  course  by  which  to  avoid  the  recurrence  of  the  evil,  and  the 
means  to  lessen  or  remove  it,  where  it  had  already  been  inflicted. 

1st.  Xo  injury  has  been  sustained  on  any  soil  of  my  farm  by 
marling  not  more  heavily  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  heaped 
bushels  to  the  acre,  with  marl  of  strength  not  exceeding  40  per 
cent,  of  calcareous  earth. 

2d.  Dressings  twice  as  heavy  seldom  produce  damage  to  the  first 
crop  on  any  soil ;  and  never  even  on  the  after  crops  on  any  calca- 
reous, or  good  neutral  soil;  nor  on  any  acid  soil  supplied  plenti- 
fully with  vegetable  matter. 

3d.  On  acid  soils  marled  too  heavily,  the  injury  is  in  proportion 
to  the  extent  of  one  or  all  these  circumstances  of  the  soil — poverty, 
sandiness,  and  severe  cropping  and  grazing,  whether  inflicted  pre- 
viously or  subsequently. 

4th.  Clover,  both  red  and  white,  will  live  and  flourish  on  the 
spots  most  injured  for  grain  crops  by  marling  too  heavily.  Thus, 
in  the  case  before  cited  of  land  adjacent  to  the  pieces  measured  in 
experiment  10,  and  equally  over-marled,  very  heavy  red  clover  was 


DISEASED   CHOPS   CAUSED   BY   MARLING.  157 

raised  in  1830,  by  adding  gypseous  earth,  and  which  was  succeeded 
by  a  good  growth  of  corn,  free  from  every  mark  of  disease,  in  1832. 

5th.  A  good  dressing  of  putrescent  manure  removes  the  disease 
completely  (see  Exp.  11,  12,  13).  All  kinds  of  marl  (or  fossil 
shells)  have  sometimes  been  injurious ;  but  such  effects  have  been 
more  generally  experienced  from  the  dry  yellow  marl,  than  from 
the  blue  and  wet. 

The  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  these  facts  are  obvious.  They 
direct  us  to  avoid  injury  by  applying  marl  lightly  at  first,  and  to  bo 
still  more  cautious  according  to  the  existence  of  the  circumstances 
stated  as  increasing  the  tendency  of  marl  to  do  harm.  Next,  if 
the  over-dose  has  already  been  given,  we  should  forbid  grazing 
entirely,  and  furnish  putrescent  manure  as  far  as  possible ;  or  omit 
one  or  two  grain  crops,  so  as  to  allow  more  vegetable  matter  to  be 
fixed  in  the  land — apply  putrescent  manures — and  sow  clover  as 
soon  as  circumstances  permit.  One  or  more  of  these  remedies 
have  been  used  on  most  of  my  too  heavily  marled  laud';  and  with 
considerable,  though  not  always  with  entire  success,  because  the 
means  for  the  cure  could  not  always  be  furnished  at  once  in  suffi- 
cient abundance.  Other  persons,  who  permitted  close  grazing,  and 
adopted  a  more  scourging  rotation  of  crops,  have  suffered  more 
damage,  from  much  lighter  dressings  of  marl  than  those  of  mine 
which  were  injurious. 

But  though  the  unlooked-for  damage  sustained  from  this  cause 
produced  much  loss  and  disappointment,  and  has  greatly  retarded 
the  progress  of  my  improvements,  it  did  not  suspend  my  marling, 
nor  abate  my  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  manure.  If  a  cover  of 
500  or  600  bushels  was  so  strong  as  to  injure  land  of  certain 
qualities,  it  seemed  to  be  a  fair  deduction,  that  the  benefit  expected 
from  so  heavy  a  dressing,  might  have  been  obtained  from  half  the 
quantity;  if  not  on  the  first  crop,  at  least  on  every  one  after- 
wards. That  surely  is  nothing  to  be  lamented.  It  also  afforded 
some  consolation  for  the  evil  of  the  too  heavy  mailings  already  • 
applied,  that  the  soil  was  thereby  fitted  to  seize  upon  and  retain  a 
greater  quantity  of  vegetable  matter,  and  would  thereby  ultimately 
reach  a  higher  grade  of  fertility. 

The  cause  of  this  disease  is  less  apparent  than  its  remedies.  It 
is  certain  that  it  is  not  produced  merely  by  the  quantity  of  calca- 
reous earth  in  the  soil.  If  it  were  so,  similar  effects,  shown  in 
diseased  crops,  would  always  be  found  on  soils  containing  far 
greater  proportions  of  that  earth.  These  injurious  effects  have  not 
been  known,  to  any  extent,  except  on  soils  formerly  acid,  and  made 
calcareous  artificially  ;  and  not  on  ^either  neutral  or  calcareous 
soils,  even  by  the  addition  of  a  great  excess  of  marl.  The  small 
spots  of  land  that  nature  has  made  excessively  calcareous,  by  marl 
beds  cropping  out  at  the  surface  of  cultivated  fields  (as  the  speci* 
14 


158  DffiBABB)  3KD    l;V    MAULING. 

men  -i.  page  60),  produce  indeed  a  pale  feeble  growth  of  corn, 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  poor  gravelly  soils ;  but  whether 
the  plants  yield  grain,  or  arc  barren,  they  show  none  of  those  pecu- 
liar :.n  1  Btrongly  marked  symptoms  of  disease  which  have  been 
described.  Some  such  places  on  my  farm,  from  which  great  quan- 
tities of  poor  sandy  marl  had  been  removed  for  manure,  and  where 
the  remainder  still  was  of  unknown  depth,  have  been  afterwards 
cultivated  with  the  surrounding  land ;  and  with  no  more  aid  than 
the  portion  of  the  adjacent  soil  carried  thereto  necessarily  by  the 
plough,  these  places  have  gradually  improved  to  a  product  equal  to 
12  or  15  bushels  of  corn  per  acre,  and  have  never  exhibited  any 
mark  of  the  marl  disease. 

By  calculation,  it  appears  that  the  heaviest  dressing  cau-ing  in- 
jurious consequences,  if  mixed  to  the  depth  of  five  inches,  has  not 
given  to  the  soil  a  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  equal  to  two  per 
cent.  This  proportion  is  greatly  exceeded  in  our  best  shelly  land, 
and  no  such  disease  is  found  there,  even  when  the  rich  mould  is 
nearly  all  washed  away,  and  the  shells  mostly  left.  [Soils  of  re- 
markable fertility  from  the  prairies  of  Alabama  and  31ississippi 
have  been  shown  (page  66)  to  contain  from  8  to  16  per  cent,  of 
calcareous  earth,  all  of  which  proportions  were  in  the  state  of  most 
minute  division,  and  therefore  most  ready  to  produce  this  disease, 
if  it  could  have  been  produced  by  the  quantity  of  this  ingredient. 
A  specimen  of  soil  remarkable  for  its  great  fertility,  and  maintaining 
it  under  40  years  of  successive  corn  culture,  in  Scioto  valley,  Ohio, 
was  sent  me  by  Dr.  Thomas  Massie.  It  contained  10  per  cent,  of 
carbonate  of  lime  and  magnesia.  The  soil  of  the  borders  of  the 
Xile,  celebrated  for  its  exuberant  fertility  through  thousands  of 
successive  crops,  contains  about  25  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
(LydTs  Geology.^]  Very  fertile  soils  in  France  and  England 
sometimes  contain  20  or  30  per  cent.  Among  the  soils  of  remarka- 
ble good  qualities  analyzed  by  Davy,  one  is  stated  to  contain  about 
28  per  cent.,  and  another,  which  was  eight-ninths  of  silicious  sand, 
contained  nearly  10  per  cent,  of  calcareous  earth.  Xor  does  he 
intimate  that  such  proportions  are  very  rare.  Similar  results  have 
been  stated,  from  analyses  reported  by  Kirwan,  Young,  Bergman, 
-and  Rozier  (page  51) ;  and  from  all  the  same  deduction  is  inevita- 
ble, that  much  larger  natural  proportions  of  calcareous  earth,  than 
our  diseased  lands  have  received,  are  very  common  in  France  and 
England,  without  any  such  effect  being  produced. 

From  the  numerous  facts  of  which  these  are  examples,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  calcareous  earth  acting  alone,  or  directly,  has  not  caused 
this  injury  ;  and  it  seems  most  probable  that  the  cause  is  some  new 
combination  of  lime  formed  in  acid  soils  only ;  and  that  this  new 
combination  is  hurtful  to  grain  under  certain  circumstances,  which 


RECAPITULATION.  159 

wc  may  avoid,  and  is  highly  beneficial  to  every  kind  of  clover. 
Perhaps  it  is  the  [humate,  or  some  other  vegetable]  salt  of  lime, 
formed  by  the  calcareous  manure  combining  with  the  acid  of  the 
soil,  which,  not  meeting  with  enough  vegetable  matter  to  combine 
with  and  fix  in  the  soil;  causes,  by  its  excess,  all  these  injurious 
effects. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

RECAPITULATION  AND    MORE   FULL   STATEMENTS  OF  THE   EFFECTS 
OF  CALCAREOUS  MANURES. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

Prom  the  foregoing  experiments  may  be  gathered  most  of  the 
effects,  both  injurious  and  beneficial,  to  he  expected  from  calcareous 
manures,  on  the  several  kinds  of  soils  there  described.  Information 
obtained  from  statements  in  detail  of  agricultural  experiments  is 
far  more  satisfactory,  to  the  attentive  and  laborious  inquirer,  than 
a  mere  report  of  the  general  opinions  of  the  experimenter,  derived 
from  the  results.  But  however  conclusive  may  be  this  mode  of  re- 
porting facts,  it  is  necessarily  deficient  in  method,  clearness,  and 
conciseness.  It  may  therefore  be  useful  to  bring  together  the 
general  results  of  these  experiments  in  a  somewhat  digested  form, 
to  serve  as  rules  for  practice.  Other  effects  of  calcareous  manures 
will  also  be  stated,  which  are  likewise  established  by  experience, 
but  which  did  not  belong  to  any  one  accurately  observed  experiment. 

The  results  that  have  been  reported  confirm  in  almost  every 
particular  the  chemical  powers  before  attributed  to  calcareous  ma- 
nures, by  the  theory  of  their  action.  It  is  admitted  that  causes 
and  effects  were  not  always  proportioned,  and  that  sometimes 
trivial  apparent  contradictions  were  presented.  But  this  is  inevi- 
table, even  with  regard  to  the  best  established  doctrines,  and  the 
most  perfect  processes  in  agriculture.  There  are  many  practices 
universally  admitted  to  be  beneficial;  yet  there  are  none  of  these 
which  are  not  found  sometimes  useless,  or  hurtful,  on  account  of 
some  other  attendant  circumstance,  which  was  not  expected,  and 
perhaps  not  discovered.  Every  application  of  calcareous  earth  to 
a  deficient  soil  is  a  chemical  operation  on  a  great  scale.  Decompo- 
sitions and  new  combinations  are  produced,  and  in  a  manner  gene- 
rally conforming  to  the  operator's  expectations.  But  other  and 
unknown  agents  may  sometimes  have  a  share  in  the  process,  and 
thus  cause  unlooked-for  results.  Such  differences  between  practice 
and  theory  have  sometimes  occurred  in  my  use  of  calcareous  ma- 


100  RESUUTS   HAYS  CONFORMED  Tu   THEORY. 

nurcs  (as  may  be  observed  in  some  of  the  reported  experiments), 
but  they  have  neither  been  frequent,  uniform,  nor  important. 

[But  in  nearly  all  such  cases  of  disproportion  between  causes 
and  effects  in  the  use  of  marl,  the  manner  of  variation  has  been 
in  the  effects  surpassing  the  anticipated  powe*r  of  the  causes  (as 
previously  inferred  from  reasoning  and  in  advance  of  any  practice), 
and  in  very  few,  if  indeed  any  cases,  of  the  contrary  operation,  of 
the  results  falling  short  of  what  might  have  been  inferred  from  the 
theory  of  the  action  of  calcareous  manures.  For  such  variation  as 
this,  it  maj'  be  that  no  reader  will  require  either  excuse  or  explana- 
tion ;  nevertheless  it  is  as  much  due  to  truth  that  it  should  be 
stated,  as  if  the  opposite  kind  of  difference  existed. 

Before  my  earliest  trials,  or  practical  knowledge,  of  the  effects 
of  marl,  I  was  well  assured,  by  my  theoretical  reasoning,  that  this 
manure  would  correct  the  acidity  of  poor  soil,  and  enable  it  to  be 
enriched  by  putrescent  manures.  But  I  was  still  totally  at  a  loss 
to  know,  or  to  guess,  how  much  calcareous  earth  would  be  required 
for  that  result,  or  how  much  time  might  be  required  for  the  suffi- 
cient quantity  to  produce  its  full  effect;  and  there  were  grounds  to 
fear  that  the  quantity  of  the  manure  and  time  for  its  operation, 
and  consequently  the  cost  compared  to  profit,  would  be  much 
greater  than  after-experience  has  shown.  If  1000  bushels  of  ordi- 
nary marl  had  been  required  for  an  acre,  and  10  years'  time  for  that 
application  to  raise  the  product  to  double  its  previous  rate,  the 
theory  of  the  action  of  calcareous  manures  would  have  been  sus- 
tained. But  in  fact,  as  great  effect  as  this  has  been  usually  pro- 
duced (in  judicious  and  proper  practice),  by  measures  of  marl  and 
of  time  less  by  three-fourths  than  those  just  stated.  And  thus, 
while  effects  have  almost  universally  exceeded  in  measure  the  sup- 
posed power  of  their  causes,  I  may  safely  assert  that  in  not  a  sin- 
gle case,  in  the  tide-water  region,  of  a  judicious  application  of 
marl  or  lime,  has  it  been  known  that  the  effect  fell  short  of  what 
would  be  indicated  by  my  theory  of  the  action  of  calcareous  earth 
as  manure. 

But  there  is  still  another  exception  to  admit,  if  it  be  one,  or  of 
apparent  want  of  accordance  between  theory  and  practice ;  and 
unluckily,  this  case  is  of  the  effects  falling  short  of  the  supposed 
,'  power  of  causes.  There  has  as  yet  been  made  but  little  use  of 
lime  in  the  region  immediately  above  the  granite  ridge  which  forms 
the  lower  falls  of  our  eastern  rivers.  But  almost  all  the  failures 
of  lime  to  act  that  have  been  heard  of,  or  of  effects  falling  much 
short  of  what  were  expected  and  are  usual,  are  among  the  few  ex- 
periments which  have  been  made  within  fifty  miles  above  the 
granite  ridge.  While  truth  requires  that  the  fact  of  these  failures 
should  be  stated,  I  pretend  not  to  account  for  them.  It  may  be 
the  case,  and  probably  is,  that  there  is  a  general  difference  of 


DIFFERENCE   OF  LANDS.  161 

chemical  constitution  between  lands  even  of  like  apparent  texture 
and  qualities,  above  and  below  the  falls,  as  there  certainly  was  a 
great  difference  of  geological  formation.* 

Of  the  poor  lands  above  the  falls,  my  knowledge  is  but  slight, 
and  founded  only  on  general  and  slight  personal  observation,  or  the 
report  and  better  information  of  resident  cultivators.  But  judg- 
ing from  such  uncertain  lights,  I  would  infer  that  the  lands  above 
the  falls  were  much  less  acid  than  those  below,  even  when  as  poor. 
The  growth  of  pine  and  of  sorrel  is  more  scarce  on  lands  above  the 
falls ;  and  gypsum  often  acts  there  on  natural  soils,  and  lime  (in 
some  known  trials)  has  produced  but  slight  benefit.  On  the  con- 
trary, gypsum  is  scarcely  ever  operative  on  any  natural  soil  below 
the  falls  (that  is,  on  any  of  the  great  body  of  acid  soil),  and  lime 
never  fails  to  act  well  on  these  same  lands. 

The  most  important  observation  to  be  made  on  the  disproportion 
of  causes  and  effects,  in  the  tide-water  region,  is  in  regard  to  good 
neutral  soils,  and  especially  as  to  that  best  class  known  by  the 
common  name  of  "  chocolate"  or  "mulatto  land,"  or  "  hazel  loam," 
as  designated  more  properly  in  England.  On  such  soils,  which 
constitute  the  chief  value  of  the  best  farms  of  James  river,  the 
applications  of  lime  have  been  the  most  extensive,  and  always 
highly  effective. 

*  The  falls  of  the  rivers  of  eastern  Virginia  mark  the  eastern  and  lower 
outline  of  the  primitive  region.  The  soils  of  that  region  have  been  formed 
more  immediately  or  recently  from  the  disintegration  of  rocks ;  and  this 
natural  process  is  still  going  on,  in  the  gradual  continued  disintegration  of 
the  still  remaining  rocks,  and  even  of  gravel  and  sand.  For,  however  much 
the  materials  of  the  soils  have  been  intermixed  by  natural  causes,  and  the 
soils  thereby  made  more  of  uniform  character,  still  each  remaining  stone, 
and  even  each  grain  of  sand,  is  a  fragment  and  sample  of  the  original  com- 
pound rock  from  which  it  crumbled  down.  Most  of  the  different  rocks 
contain,  chemically  combined,  several,  if  not  all  the  important  chemical 
earths;  though,  as  in  poor  soils,  silica  and  alumina  are  usually  most 
abundant,  and  lime  and  magnesia  are  in  very  minute  proportions.  Still, 
in  the  intermixture  of  fragments  of  all  the  ordinary  rocks  of  that  region, 
and  by  their  continued  gradual  disintegration,  there  are  still  furnished  to 
every  soil  so  formed  new  supplies  of  all  the  necessary  earths,  and  of  potash 
also.  Small  as  may  be  the  amount  of  lime  and  potash,  there  is  some  of 
each  furnished  every  year  to  every  such  soil,  by  the  disintegration  of  its  re- 
maining fragments  of  rocks. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  soils  and  sub-soils  of  the  region  below  the  falls 
are  composed  of  a  much  earlier  disintegration  of  rocks.  Except  some 
rarely  found  hard  pebbles,  and  gravel  (mostly  of  quartz),  all  rounded 
by  being  water-rolled,  everything  in  these  soils  has  been  reduced  to  the 
minutest  particles.  Even  if  these  soils  had  been  originally  produced  from 
the  same  kinds  of  rocks,  as  those  above  the  falls,  still  there  must  be  a 
great  difference  between  the  soils  in  which  the  process  of  disintegration 
and  decomposition  is  yet  in  continual  progress,  and  those  in  which  it  has 
been  completed  and  has  ceased  for  countless  ages. 

14* 


IG2  CALCAREOUS   WITH   VEOETABLE   MATTER. 

The  fact  that  the  effects  of  calcareous  manures  so  generally  ex- 
ceed in  measure  the  supposed  power  and  operation  of  the  causes, 
and  more  especially  in  regard  to  neutral  soils,  seemed  to  indicate 
that  calcareous  manures  possessed  other  fertilizing  powers,  be- 
sides those  set  forth  in  Chapter  VIII.  This,  which  formerly  was 
stated  as  a  probability,  may  now  be  considered  as  certain.  Evi- 
dence of  such  effects,  and  of  the  supposed  auxiliary  and  lately 
known  causes,  will  hereafter  be  presented.  Dismissing  them  from 
consideration  for  the  present,  I  will  return  to  stating  the  results  of 
applying  marl  as  they  have  occurred  almost  without  exception  in 
my  own  earlier  practice,  and  which  are  confirmed  by  the  con- 
currence of  all  known  and  certain  testimony  in  regard  to  practical 
operations  in  the  marl  region  of  Virginia.] 

Under  like  circumstances  in  other  respects,  the  benefit  derived 
from  marling  will  be  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  vegetable  or 
other  putrescent  matter  given  to  the  soil.  It  is  essential  that  the 
cultivation  should  be  mild,  and  that  little  or  no  grazing  be  per- 
mitted on  poor  lands  under  regular  tillage,  and  which  have  no 
supply  of  putrescent  manure,  except  the  grass  and  weeds  growing 
on  them  while  at  rest.  Wherever  farm-yard  manure  is  used,  the 
land  should  be  marled  heavily ;  and  if  the  marl  is  applied  first,  so 
much  the  better.  The  marl  cannot  act  by  fixing  the  other  manure, 
except  so  far  as  they  are  in  contact,  and  when  both  are  well  mixed 
with  the  soil. 

[When  I  first  asserted  the  agency  and  force  of  calcareous  ma- 
nures in  fixing  alimentary  manures  in  soils,  and  maintained  the 
great  and  indispensable  necessity  of  that  operation,  the  proposition 
was  founded  almost  exclusively  on  reasoning,  and  on  observation 
of  natural  soils,  and  not  at  all  on  practical  effects  then  experienced 
from  applications  of  marl  or  lime.  From  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  such  effects  as  these,  however  important  and  valuable,  could 
not  be  seen  at  first,  nor  fully  even  in  a  very  few  years  after  begin- 
ning to  marl,  nor  their  extent  be  understood  and  appreciated. 
Moreover,  my  earlier  experience  had  shown  so  fully  the  incapacity 
of  my  acid  or  naturally  poor  soils  to  retain  alimentary  manures, 
and  my  labours  and  expenditures  to  apply  them  had  been  so  very 
unprofitable,  that  I  was  not  myself  prepared  for  the  full  extent  of 
the  contrary  operation,  after  marl  had  been  applied.  And  though 
the  views  and  estimation  of  such  new  operation  have  been  yearly 
enlarging,  from  the  experience  of  practical  results,  still  my  esti- 
mate of  the  fixing  value  of  marl  fell  short  of  what  is  now  confi- 
dently believed,  and  which  is  every  season  manifest,  of  the  greater 
effect  and  permanency,  and  far  greater  profit  of  alimentary  ma- 
nures, caused  solely  by  the  presence  of  calcareous  earth  in  the 
same  soils.  Notwithstanding  that  the  theory  of  the  action  of  cal- 
careous manures,  as  set  forth  in  this  essay,  and  published  as  early 


CALCAREOUS  WITH  VEGETABLE  MATTER.      '  1G3 

as  1S21,  made  this  fixing  operation  the  first  of  the  two  most  im- 
portant agencies,  and  though  that  theoretical  view  guided  my  prac- 
tice from  the  beginning,  still  it  was  not  until  after  a  long  time,  (hat 
gradually  and  slowly  I  fully  and  truly  estimated  the  full  value  and 
profit  of  this  operation.  My  early  and  zealous  .  efforts  (before  be- 
ginning to  marl)  to  improve  naturally  poor  lands  by  the  vegetable 
and  animal  manures  of  the  farm,  had  been  so  much  disappointed, 
and  the  effects  had  been  so  inconsiderable  as  well  as  so  fleeting, 
that  it  was  long  before  I  arrived  at  the  conviction  of  the  full  ex- 
tent of  the  opposite  and  new  condition  of  the  soil.  But  during 
latter  years,  the  certain  and  profitable  operation,  and  durable  ope- 
ration, of  every  kind  of  vegetable  or  alimentary  manure,  no  mat- 
ter how  or  when  applied,  has  been  made  obvious;  and  now  my 
estimate  of  value  would  be,  that  if  marling  had  no  other  operation 
whatever  than  this  one  of  making  other  manures  much  more  active 
and  durable,  the  profit  from  this  one  source  alone  would  amply  re- 
ward all  the  usual  labours  and  expenses  of  the  operation.*] 

On  "  galled"  spots,  from  which  all  the  soil  has  been  washed,  and 
where  no  plant  can  live,  the  application  of  marl  alone  is  utterly 
useless  ;  at  least,  until  time  and  accident  shall  furnish  some  addi- 
tion of  vegetable  matter  also.  Putrescent  manures  alone  would 
there  have  but  little  effect,  unless  in  great  quantity,  and  would 
soon  be  all  lost.  But  marl  and  putrescent  matter  together  serve  to 
form  a  new  soil,  and  thus  both  are  brought  into  useful  action ;  the 
marl  is  made  active,  and  the  putrescent  manure  permanent.  The 
only  perfect  cures  that  I  have  been  able  to  make,  at  one  operation, 
of  galls  produced  upon  a  barren  sub-soil,  were  by  applying  heavy 
dressings  of  both  calcareous  and  putrescent  manures  together ;  and 
this  method  may  be  relied  on  as  certainly  effectual.  But  though 
a  fertile  soil  may  thus  be  created,  and  fixed  durably  on  galls  other- 
wise irreclaimable,  the  cost  will  generally  exceed  the  value  of  the 
land  recovered,  from  the  great  quantity  of  putrescent  matter  re- 
quired. Much  of  our  acid  hilly  land  has  been  deprived,  by  wash- 
ing, of  a  considerable  portion  of  its  natural  soil,  though  not  yet 
made  entirely  barren.  The  foregoing  remarks  equally  apply  to 
this  kind  of  land,  to  the  extent  that  its  soil  has  been  carried  off. 
It  will  be  profitable  to  apply  marl  to  such  land;  but  its  effect  will 
be  diminished,  in  proportion  to  the  previous  removal  of  the  soil. 
Calcareous  soils,  from  the  difference  of  texture,  are  much  less  apt 
to  wash  than  other  kinds.    Within  a  few  years  after  marling  a  hilly 

[*  Confirmatory  testimony. — timing  "increases  the  effect  of  a  given  ap- 
plication of  [putrescent]  manure;  calls  into  action  thai  which,  having  been 
previously  added,  appears  to  lie  dormant;  and  though  manure  must  bo 
plentifully  laid  upon  the  land  after  it  has  been  well  limed,  yet  the  same 
degree  of  productiveness  can  still  be  maintained  at  a  less  cost  ofe  manure 
than  where  no  lime  has  been  applied."     Johnston's  Lectures,  p.  391.] 


w 


1G4  "     MARLING   PREVENTS   WASHING   EFFECTS   OF  RAINS. 

field  that  lias  been  injured  by  washing,  many  of  the  old  gulleys 
will  begin  to  produce  vegetation,  and  Bhow  that  a  soil  is  gradually 
forming  from  the  dead  vegetables  brought  there  by  winds  and 
rains,  although  no  means  had  been  used  to  aid  this  operation. 

[This  newly  acquired  ability  to  resist  the  washing  power  of  rains, 
is  one  of  the  most  beneficial  effects  of  marling  on  hilly  lands. 
And  this  effect  is  no  less  certain,  than  it  is  conformable  to  the 
theory  of  the  action  of  marl  and  to  reason.  On  soils  containing 
very  little  lime  (or  almost  none,  as  in  naked  sub-soils),  whether 
they  be  sandy  or  clayey,  there  is  nothing  to  combine  the  vegetable 
matter  with  the  soil,  nor  the  different  ingredients  of  the  soil  with 
each  other.  Consequently  they  have  no  cohesion,  and  whenever 
made  very  soft,  or  semi-fluid  by  rains,  and  there  is  any  declivity, 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  soil,  or  upper  surface,  being  washed 
off  by  excessive  rain,  though  falling  gently.  Of  course,  torrents 
of  rain  produce  the  same  injurious  effects  much  more  rapidly  and 
effectually.  But  when  such  soils  have  been  made  calcareous,  a 
chemical  combination  and  bond  of  union  and  coherence  is  formed 
between  the  lime  and  the  putrescent  or  organic  matter,  and  of  both 
with  the  silicious  and  argillaceous  parts  of  the  soil;  which  combi- 
nation is  able  to  resist  any  but  an  unusual  force  of  the  washing 
action  of  rains.*  Moreover,  by  the  increase  of  productive  power 
thus  given,  grass  grows  more  kindly  and  rapidly,  and  by  its  decay 
the  vegetable  mould  is  continually  augmented,  and  thereby  the 
power  of  resisting  washing  is  still  more  increased  as  the  fertility 
of  the  soil  is  increased.  This  is  but  another  aspect  and  operation 
of  the  power  of  calcareous  manure  in  soils  to  fix  and  retain 
manures. 

The  tendency  of  some  very  sandy  soils  to  be  moved,  and  in  part 
blown  away,  by  high  winds,  is  also  produced  by  the  want  of  cohe- 
sion of  the  particles.  The  wind  operates  on  the  soil  in  its  dry 
state  in  the  same  way,  and  for  the  same  defect  of  its  constitution, 
as  docs  water  in  rain  torrents.  The  same  remedy,  calcareous  ma- 
nure, is  even  more  effectual  to  prevent  the  wasting  operations  of 
wind  than  of  water.  The  absorbent  power  given  to  the  before 
loose  and  more  rapidly  drying  particles  of  sandy  soils  serves  to 
preserve  more  moisture  at  the  surface.  This  alone  would  tend 
much  to  prevent  the  moving  effect  of  the  wind,  which  can  take 
place  only  on  earth  nearly  or  quite  dry  and  pulverulent.  Further, 
both  directly  and  indirectly  (by  combining  the  organic  with  the 
earthy  parts),  the  calcareous  manure,  when  thoroughly  diffused, 
interposes  some  cohesive  particles  between  the  particles  of  sand. 

*  Confirmation. — Johnston  speaks  of  organic  (or  putrescent)  matter  bc- 
ing  presented  to  the  action  of  lime  "  in  the  state  of  chemical  combination 
with  earthy  substances — with  the  alumina,  for  example,  and  with  lime  and 
magnesia — already  existing  in  the  soil."  p.  402. 


AND   THE   BLOWING   AWAY   OF   SANDS   BY   WIND.  165 

The  effect  in  practice  is  most  striking.  Fields  and  forms,  winch 
before  were  noted  for  the  dense  and  enormous  clouds  of  dust  pass- 
ing away  from  them  In  every  high  and  drying  wind,  become  free 
from  such  loss  in  a  short  time  after  being  marled  or  well  limed.*] 

The  effect  of  marling  will  be  much  lessened  by  the  soil  being 
kept  under  exhausting  cultivation.  Such  were  the  circumstances 
under  which  we  may  suppose  that  marl  was  tried  and  abandoned 
many  years  ago,  in  the  case  referred  to  in  page  114.  Proceeding 
upon  the  false  supposition  that  marl  was  to  enrich  by  direct  action, 
like  dung,  it  is  most  probable  that  it  was  applied  to  some  of  the 
poorest  and  most  exhausted  Land,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the 
manure  what  "is  called  a  "  fair  trial."  The  disappointment  of  such 
ill-founded  expectations  was  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  experiment 
not  being  repeated,  or  being  scarcely  ever  referred  to  again,  unless 
as  evidence  of  the  worthlessness  of  marl.  Yet  with  proper  views 
of  the  action  of  this  manure,  this  experiment  might  at  first  have 
as  well  proved  the  early  efficacy  and  value  of  marl,  as  it  now  does 
its  durability."!* 

When  acid  lands  are  equally  poor,  the  increase  of  the  first  crop 
from  marling  will  be  greater  on  sandy,  than  on  clay  soils  ;  though 
the  latter,  by  heavier  dressings  and  longer  time,  may  ultimately 

'   ■ « ; 

*  I  have  heard  (but  do  not  know  from  my  own  personal  observation), 
that  the  well-known  and  valuable  farm  of  Lower  Wyanoke,  the  property  of 
the  late  Fielding  Lewis,  presented  a  remarkable  example  of  the  frequent 
loss  of  soil  by  winds,  before  the  liming,  and  of  the  cessation  afterwards. 
On  March  1st,  1850,  a  few  days  before  the  writing  of  these  lines,  I  saw 
from  the  eminence  on  which  my  present  dwelling  stands,  a  very  remarka- 
ble exhibition  of  this  conservative  power  of  marl.  The  night  before,  there 
had  fallen  a  heavy  shower  ;  and  also  some  drizzle  after  day-break,  suc- 
ceeded by  bright  sunshine  and  a  furious  wind.  Though  the  rain-water  had 
Stood  in  puddles  in  the  ruts  and  low  spots  of  hard  roads  in  the  morning, 
by  11  o'clock,  a.  k.,  dense  clouds  of  dust,  rising  as  high  as  the  tops  of  the 
forest  trees  on  the  higher  lands,  were  seen  driven  off  from  the  light  fields 
of  three  different  and  detached  neighbouring  farms,  and  which  had  not  been 
marled.  A  much  broader  space  of  surface,  intermediate  or  adjoining,  was 
also  in  view,  much  of  which  was  equally  sandy,  and  fully  as  much  exposed 
to  the  wind.  All  this  land  (except  one  small  field,  which  was  both  stiff,  and 
low-lying,  and  of  course  not  then  dry)  had  been  well  marled ;  and  from 
none  of  it  was  any  dust  seen  to  rise.  Of  the  several  thousand  acres  of 
arable  land  in  sight,  and  mostly  of  sandy  soil,  all  the  farms  and  fields  not 
marled  (and  not  of  clay  or  wet  soil)  might  have  been  designated  by  the 
clouds  of  dust  then  rising  and  passing  off  from  them. 

-f-  Confirmation. — "One  thing,  however,  must  be  borne  in  mind  by  those 
who.  in  adopting  the  best  system  of  [successive]  liming,  do  not  wish  both 
to  injiu-e  their  land  and  to  meet  witli  ultimate  disappointment.  Organic 
matter — in  the  form  of  farm-yard  manure,  or  green  crops  ploughed  under, 
&C.  &C,  must  be  abundantly  and  systematically  added,  if  at  the  end  of  20 
or  40  years  the  land  in  which  the  full  supply  of  lime  is  kept  up  is  to  retain 
its  original  fertility.  .  .  .  Otherwise  present  fertility  and  gain  will  be 
followed  by  future  baiTcnncss  and  loss."     Johnston's  Lectures,  p.  380. 


168  QUANTITIES   OF   MARL  REQUIRED. 

become  the  best  land,  at  least  for  wheat  and  for  grass.*  The  more 
acid  the  growth  of  any  uoi]  i-.  or  would  be,  if  suffered  to  remain, 
the  more  increase  of  crop  ma}-  be  expected  from  marl;  which  is 
directly  the  reverse  of  the  effects  of  putrescent  manures.  The  in- 
crease of  the  first  crop  on  my  worn  acid  land,  I  have  never  known 
under  fifty  per  cent.,  and  more  often  it  is  as  much  as  one  hundred; 
and  the  improvement  continues  to  increase,  under  mild  tillage,  to 
three  or  four  times  the  original  product  of  the  land.  (See  Exp. 
11,  page  185,  and  Exp.  4  and  6.)  In  this,  and  other  general  state- 
ments of  effects,  I  suppose  the  land  to  bear  not  more  than  two 
grain  crops  in  four  years,  and  not  to  be  subjected  to  grazing  during 
the  other  two ;  and  that  a  sufficient  cover  of  marl  has  been  laid  on 
for  use.  and  not  enough  to  cause  disease.  It  is  true,  that  it  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  fix  that  proper  medium,  varying  as  it 
may  on  every  change  of  soil,  of  cropping,  and  of  the  kind  of  marl. 
But  whatever  error  may  be  made  in  the  proportion  of  marl  applied, 
let  it  be  on  the  side  of  light  dressing  (except  where  putrescent 
manures  are  also  laid  on,  or  designed  to  be  laid  on  before  the  next 
course  of  crops  begins) ;  and  if  less  increase  of  crop  is  gained  to 
the  acre,  the  cost  and  labour  of  marling  will  be  lessened  in  a  still 
greater  proportion.  If,  when  tillage  has  served  to  mix  the  marl 
well  with  the  soil,  sorrel  shoiMd  still  show  to  any  extent,  it  will 
sufficiently  indicate  that  not  enough  marl  had  been  applied,  and 
that  it  may  be  added  to,  safely  and  profitably.  If  the  nature  of  the 
soil,  its  condition  and  treatment,  and  the  strength  of  the  marl,  all 
were  known,  it  would  be  easy  to  direct  the  amount  of  a  suitable 
dressing ;  but  without  knowing  these  circumstances,  it  will  be 
safest  to  give  not  more  than  200  or  250  bushels  of  marl,  of  say  10 
per  cent,  to  the  acre  of  worn  acid  soils.  Twice  or  thrice  as  much 
might  be  given,  safely  and  profitably,  to  newly  cleared  wood-land, 
or  well  manured  land.  Or,  I  would  advise  that  the  first  dreeing 
should  not  exceed  the  quantity  which  would  furnish  one  per  cent. 
of  carbonate  of  lime  to  the  soil,  for  its  ploughed  depth.  If  only 
3  inches  deep,  21 8  bushels  of  marl,  of  40  percent.,  would  furnish 
1  per  cent,  to  the  soil.  Besides  avoiding  danger,  it  is  more  profita- 
ble to  marl  lightly  at  first  on  weak  lands.  If  a  farmer  can  carry 
out  only  ten  thousand  bushels  of  marl  in  a  year,  he  will  derive 
more  product,  and  confer  a  greater  amount  of  improvement,  by 
spreading  it  over  forty  acres  of  the  land  intended  for  his  next 
crop,  than  on  twenty ;  though  the  increase  to  the  acre  would  pro- 
bably be  greatest  in  the  latter  case.  By  the  lighter  dressing,  the 
land  of  the  whole  farm  will  be  marled,  and  be  storing  up  vegetable 
matter  f:>r  its  progressive  improvement,  in  half  the  time  that  it 
could  be  marled  at  double  the  rate. 

*  Confirmation. — "On  clay  lands  more  lime  is  necessary  than  on  light 
and  saii'.ly  boSs."     Johnston's  Lectures,  p.  382. 


PRESERVING   OF   VEGETABLE   MATTER.  107 

The  greater  part  of  tbc  calcareous  earth  applied  at  one  time 
Cannot  begin  to  act  as  manure  before  several  years  have  passed) 
owing  to  tbc  coarse  state  of  many  of  the  shells,  and  the  want  of 
thoroughly  mixing  them  with  the  soil.  Therefore,  if  enough  marl 
is  applied  to  obtain  its  full  effect  on  the  first  course  of  crops,  tbcro 
will  certainly  be  too  much  afterwards. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  profit  to  be  derived  from  marling,  though 
not  the  most  apparent  in  the  first  few  years,  is  on  such  soils  as  are 
full  of  wasting  vegetable  matter.  Here  the  effect  is  mostly  pre- 
servative, and  the  benefit  and  profit  may  be  great,  even  though  the 
increase  of  crop  may  be  very  inconsiderable.  Putrescent  manure 
laid  on  any  acid  soil,  or  the  natural  vegetable  cover  of  those  newly 
cleared,  without  marl,  would  soon  be  lost,  and  the  crops  reduced  to 
one-half  or  less.  But  when  marl  is  previously  applied,  tins  waste 
of  fertility  is  prevented;  and  the  estimate  of  benefit  should  not 
only  include  the  actual  increase  of  crop  caused  by  marling,  but  as 
much  more  as  the  amount  of  the  diminution  which  would  otherwise 
have  followed.  Every  intended  clearing  of  wood-land,  and  espe- 
cially of  those  under  a  second  growth  of  pines,  ought  to  be  marled 
before  cutting  down ;  and  it  will  be  still  better  if  it  can  be  done 
several  years  before.  If  the  application  is  delayed  until  the  new 
land  is  brought  under  cultivation,  though  much  putrescent  matter 
will  be  saved,  still  more  must  be  wasted.  By  using  marl  some 
years  before  obtaining  a  crop  from  it,  as  many  more  successive 
growths  of  leaves  will  be  converted  to  useful  manure,  and  fixed  in 
the  soil ;  and  the  increased  fertility  will  more  than  compensate  for 
the  delay.  By  such  an  operation,  the  farmer  makes  a  loan  to  the 
soil,  at  a  distant  time  for  payment,  but  on  ample  security,  and  at  a 
high  rate  of  compound  interest. 

Some  experienced  (though  certainly  not  land-improving)  culti- 
vators have  believed  that  the  most  profitable  way  to  manage  pine 
old  fields,  when  cleared  of  their  second  growth,  was  to  cultivate 
them  every  year,  until  worn  out — because,  as  they  said,  such  land 
would  not  last  much  longer,  no  matter  how  mildly  treated.  This 
opiuiou,  which  would  seem  at  first  so  absurd,  and  in  opposition  to 
all  the  received  rules  for  good  husbandry,  is  considerably  supported 
by  the  properties  which  are  here  ascribed  to  such  soils.  When 
these  lands  are  first  cut  down,  an  immense  quantity  of  vegetable 
matter  is  accumulated  on  the  surface,  which,  notwithstanding  its 
accompanying  acid  quality,  is  capable  of  making  two  or  three  crops 
nearly  as  good  as  the  land  was  ever  before  able  to  bring.  But  as 
the  soil  has  no  power  to  retain  this  vegetable  matter,  it  will  begin 
rapidly  to  decompose  and  waste,  as  soon  as  exposed  to  the  suu  ; 
and  will  be  lost,  except  so  much  as  is  caught,  while  escaping,  by 
the  roots  of  growing  crops.     The  previous  application  of  marl, 


1G8  EFFECTS   ON    "FREE   LIGHT   LAND." 

however,  would  make  it  profitable  in  these,  as  well  as  other  cases, 
to  adopt  a  mild  and  meliorating  course  of  tillage. 

Less  improvement  will  be  obtained  by  marling  worn  soils  of  the 
kind  called  "  free  light  land,"  than  other  acid  soils  which  originally 
produced  much  more  sparingly.  The  early  productiveness  of  this 
kind  of  soil,  and  its  rapid  exhaustion  by  cultivation,  at  first  view 
seem  to  contradict  the  opinion  that  durability  and  tbc  rase  of  im- 
proving by  putrescent  manures  are  proportioned  to  the  natural 
fertility  of  the  soil.  But  a  full  consideration  of  the  circumstances 
will  show  that  no  such  contradiction  exists. 

In  defining  the  term  natural  fertility,  it  was  stated  that  it  should 
not  be  measured  by  the  earliest  products  of  new  land,  which  might 
be  either  much  reduced,  or  increased,  by  temporary  causes.  The 
early  fertility  of  free  light  land  is  so  rapidly  destroyed,  as  to  take 
away  all  ground  for  considering  it  as  fixed  in,  and  belonging  to  the 
soil.  It  is  like  the  effect  of  clung  on  the  same  land  afterwards, 
which  throws  out  all  its  benefit  in  the  course  of  one  or  at  most  two 
years,  and  leaves  the  land  as  poor  as  before.  But  still  it  needs 
explanation  why  so  much  productiveness  can  at  first  be  exerted  by 
any  acid  soil,  as  in  those  described  in  the  14th  experiment.  The 
causes  may  be  found  in  the  following  statement.  These  soils,  and 
also  their  sub-soils,  are  principally  composed  of  coarse  sand,  which 
makes  them  of  more  open  texture  than  best  suits  pine,  and  (when 
rich  enough)  more  favourable  to  other  trees,  the  leaves  of  which 
have  no  natural  acid,  and  therefore  decompose  more  readily.  As 
fast  as  the  fallen  leaves  rot,  they  are  of  course  exposed  to  waste ; 
but  the  rains  convey  much  of  their  finer  parts  down  into  the  open 
soil,  where  the  less  degree  of  heat  retards  their  final  decomposition. 
Still  this  enriching  matter  is  liable  to  be  further  decomposed,  and 
to  final  waste ;  but  though  continually  wasting,  it  is  also  continu- 
ally added  to  by  the  rotting  leaves  above.  The  shelter  of  the 
upper  coat  of  unrotted  leaves,  and  the  shade  of  the  trees,  cause 
the  first  as  well  as  the  last  stages  of  decomposition  to  proceed 
slowly,  and  to  favour  the  mechanical  process  of  the  products  being 
luixed  with  the  soil.  But  there  is  no  chemical  union  of  the  vege- 
table matter  with  the  soil.  "When  the  land  is  cleared,  and  opened 
by  the  plough,  the  decomposition  of  all  the  accumulated  vegetable 
matter  is  hastened  by  the  increased  action  of  sun  and  air,  and  in 
a  short  time  everything  is  converted  to  food  for  plants.  This 
abundant  supply  suffices  to  produce  two  or  three  fine  crops.  But 
now,  the  most  fruitful  source  of  vegetable  matter  has  been  cut  oft"; 
and  the  soil  is  kept  so  heated  (by  its  open  texture)  as  to  be  unable 
to  hold  enriching  matters,  even  if  they  were  furnished.  The  laud 
soon  becomes  poor,  and  must  remain  so,  as  long  as  these  causes 
operate,  even  though  cultivated  under  the  mildest  rotation.  When 
the  transient  fertility  of  such  a  soil  is  gone,  its  acid  qualities 


OPERATION   OF   DEEPENING   SOIL.  1G9 

(which  were  before  concealed  in  some  measure  by  so  much  enrich- 
ing matter)  become  evident.  Sorrel  and  broom-grass  cover  the 
land,  and  if  allowed  to  stand,  pines  will  then  take  complete  pos- 
session, because  the  poverty  of  the  soil  leaves  them  no  rival  ta 
contend  with. 

Marling  deepens  cultivated  sandy  soils,  even  lower  than  the 
plough  may  have  penetrated.  This  was  an  unexpected  result,  and 
when  first  observed  seemed  scarcely  credible.  But  this  effect  also 
is  a  consequence  of  the  power  of  calcareous  earth  to  fix  manures. 
As  stated  in  the  foregoing  paragraph,  the  soluble  and  finely  divided 
particles  of  rotted  vegetable  matters  are  carried  by  the  rains  below 
the  soil ;  but  as  there  is  no  calcareous  earth  there  to  fix  them,  they 
must  again  rise  in  a  gaseous  form,  after  their  last  decomposition, 
unless  previously  taken  up  by  growing  plants;  [or  descending  still 
lower  in  the  sub-soil,  dissolved  in  rain-water,  may  go  off  into  tho 
sources  of  springs,  and  so  be  lost  to  the  land.]  But  after  the  soil 
is  marled,  calcareous  as  well  as  putrescent  matter  is  carried  down 
by  the  rains  as  far  as  the  soil  is  open  enough  for  it  to  pass.  Thi3 
will  always  be  as  deep  as  the  ploughing  has  been,  and  somewhat 
deeper  in  loose  earth;  and  the  chemical  union  formed  between 
these  different  substances  serves  to  fix  both,  and  thus  increases  the 
depth  of  the  soil.  This  effect  is  very  different  from  the  deepening 
of  a  soil  by  letting  the  plough  run  into  the  barren  sub-soil.  If, 
by  this  mechanical  process,  a  soil  of  only  three  inches  is  increased 
to  six,  as  much  as  it  gains  in  depth,  it  loses  in  richness.  But  when 
a  marled  soil  is  deepened  gradual!}',  its  dark  colour  and  apparent 
richness  are  increased,  as  well  as  its  depth.  Formerly,  single-horse 
ploughs  were  used  to  break  all  my  acid  soils,  and  even  these  would 
often  turn  up  sub-soil.  The  average  depth  of  soil  on  old  land  did 
not  exceed  three  inches,  nor  two  on  the  newly  cleared.  Even  be- 
fore marling  was  commenced,  my  ploughing  had  generally  sunk 
into  the  sub-soil — and  since  1825,  most  of  this  originally  thin  soil 
has  required  three  mules,  or  two  good  horses  to  a  plough,  to  break 
the  necessary  depth.  The  soil  is  now  from  six  to  eight  inches 
deep  generally,  from  the  joint  operation  of  marling  and  deepening 
the  ploughing  a  little  in  the  beginning  of  every  course  of  crops ; 
[and  to  that  depth,  or  very  nearly,  the  land  is  now  ploughed  when- 
ever preparing  for  corn,  or  for  wheat  on  clover.  The  summer 
ploughing  of  clover  land  requires  four  mules  to  a  plough. 

Since  marling  was  begun,  the  deepening  of  the  soil  has  much 
more  generally  preceded  than  followed  the  deepening  of  the  plough-  _ 
ing.  How  destructive  to  the  power  of  soil  this  present  depth  of 
ploughing  would  have  been,  without  marling,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  continued  decrease  of  the  crop,  through  four  successive  courses 
of  a  very  mild  rotation,  on  the  spot  kept  without  marl  in  experi- 
ment 10.  Yet  the  deoth  of  ploughing  there  did  not  exceed  six 
15 


170  HASTENING   MATURITY   OF   CROPS. 

inches,  and  depths  of  nine  and  eTen  twelve  inches  wore  tried,  with- 
out injury,  on  parts  of  the  adjacent  marled  land. — 1835.] 

[This  remarkable  and  valuable  effect  of  marling,  in  deepening 
the  soil,  is  increased  in  action  by  the  sub-soil  being  sardy,  which 
is  commonly  deemed  the  worst  kind  of  sub-soil.  Laud  having  a 
ib-soil,  which  is  known  in  common  parlance  as  laud  with  **  a 
good  foundation,"  is  almost  universally  prized ;  and  that  impervi- 
ous sub-soil  is  supposed  necessary  to  prevent  the  manure  and  the 
rains  from  sinking,  and  being  lost.  And  such,  indeed,  may  be 
among  the  disadvantages,  before  marling,  of  poor  land  having  a 
sandy  sub-soil.  But  not  so  after  marling.  While  the  open  texture 
of  such  a  sub-soil  permits  so  much  of  the  water  as  is  superfluous 
and  injurious  to  sink  and  disappear,  and  the  combined  manures  to 
sink  enough  to  deepen  the  soil  (by  converting  barren  sub-soil  to 
productive  soil),  the  attractive  force  of  the  calcareous  earth,  for  both 
putrescent  matter  and  moisture,  will  much  more  effectually  prevent 
either  from  being  lost  to  the  soil,  than  would  the  mechanical  ob- 
struction of  a  clay  sub-soil.  Great  as  are  the  objections  enter- 
tained by  most  farmers  to  sandy  sub-soils,  or  to  what  they  call 
"land  without  any  foundation,"  I  would  decidedly  prefer  such  to 
lands  having  an  impervious  clay  sub-soil — supposing  both  to  be 
equally  barren.  The  subjects  of  all  my  experiments  stated  as 
made  on  acid  sandy  loams,  had  also  sub-soils  of  yellow  and  barren 
sand ;  and  on  such  lands  have  been  made  my  greatest  and  most 
profitable  improvements  by  marling.  However,  a  sub-soil  (and 
also  a  soil)  more  of  medium  texture,  would  no  doubt  have  been  as 
much  better  than  the  very  sandy,  as  the  latter  was  better  than  the 
very  stiff  and  impervious  clay  sub-soils. — 1842.] 

[Besides  the  general  benefit  which  marling  causes  equally  to  all 
crops,  by  making  the  soils  they  grow  on  richer  and  more  productive, 
there  are  other  particular  benefits  which  affect  some  plants  more 
than  others.  For  example,  marling  serves  to  make  soils  warmer, 
and  thereby  hastens  the  ripening  of  every  crop,  more  than  would 
take  place  on  the  like  soils,  if  made  equally  productive  by  other 
than  calcareous  manures.*  This  quality  of  marled  land  is  highly 
important  to  cotton,  as  our  summers  are  not  long  enough  to  mature 
the  later  pods. 

"Wheat  also  derives  especial  benefit  from  the  warmth  thus  added 
to  the  soil.  It  is  enabled  better  to  withstand  the  severe  cold  of 
winter  •  and  even  the  short  time  by  which  its  ripening  is  forwarded 
by  marling,  serves  very  much   to  lessen  the  danger  of  that  crop 

*  Confirmation. — "  Liming  hastens  the  maturity  of  the  crop. — It  is  true  of 
all  our  cultivated  croj is,  dally  those  of  corn  [wheat]  that  their 

growth  is  attained  more  spec  lily  when  the  land  is  limed,  and  that  they  are 
ready  for  the  harvest  from  10  to  14  days  earlier."  Johnston's  Lectures, 
p.  302, 


PECULIAR    BENEFITS   TO   WHEAT,    ETC.  171 

from  rust,  tlic  most  frequent  and  destructive  of  all  its  diseases. 
This,  much  more  than  any  other  grain  crop,  seems  to  he  especially  ~~^ 
favoured  by  calcareous  earth  in  the  soil.  The  product  is  not  only 
always  much  increased,  but  other  accessary  effects  arc  produced, 
for  want  of  which  on  the  lands  most  highly  manured,  but  still  defi- 
cient in  lime,  the  wheat  crop  is  made  feeble,  and  in  danger  of  great 
loss  or  destruction  from  different  disasters.  Thus,  if  a  heavy 
growth  of  wheat  is  produced  by  putrescent  manures  only,  the  straw 
is  weak,  and  the  crop  is  almost  sure  to  be  laid  by  its  own  weight 
before  ripening,  even  without  stormy  weather,  and  is  very  much 
reduced  in  value.  On  limed  or  calcareous  land,  the  crop  is  far 
safer ;  and  is  seldom  laid,  even  when  very  heavy,  unless  by  violent 
storms,  which  is  owing  to  the  greater  strength  of  the  straw.*  The 
opening  of  the  texture  of  close  clay  soils  by  the  operation  of  cal- 
careous manures,  by  permitting  the  better  percolation  of  surplus 
water,  serves  in  some  measure  as  drainage,  and  especially  enables 
wheat  better  to  withstand  the  always  redundant  wet  of  winter  on 
such  soils,  which  is  much  more  the  cause  of  "  winter-killed"  wheat, 
than  the  severity  of  cold,  or  alterations  of  temperature.  Wheat 
also  profits  by  the  absorbent  power  of  marled  land  (by  which  sands 
acquire,  to  some  extent,  the  best  qualities  of  clays),  though  less 
so  than  clover  and  other  grasses  that  flourish  best  in  a  moist 
climate. 

Indian  corn  does  not  need  more  time  for  maturing  than  our  sum- 
mers afford  (except  on  the  poorest  land),  and  can  sustain  much 
drought  without  injury,  and  therefore  is  less  aided  by  these  quali- 
ties of  marled  land.  Most  (if  not  all)  the  different  plants  of  the 
leguminous  or  pod-bearing  tribe,  including  all  the  varieties  of  clo- 
ver, peas,  and  beans,  derived  such  peculiar  benefit  from  marling, 
that  it  indicated  some  peculiar  operation  on  these  plants.  "What 
this  is,  has  recently  been  made  clear  by  the  researches  of  chemists. 
The  analyses  of  the  ashes  of  leguminous  plants  show  that  they 
contain  very  large  proportions  of  lime,  and  far  exceeding  those  of 
any  other  cultivated  plants.  Of  course,  they  need  a  larger  and 
ready  supply  of  lime  in  the  soil ;  and  they  profit  in  proportion  to 
their  wants,  by  such  supply  being  furnished. — 1845.] 

On  acid  soils,  without  heavy  manuring,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
raise  red  clover ;  and  even  with  every  aid  from  putrescent  manure, 
the  crop  will  be  both  uncertain  and  unprofitable.  The  recommenda- 
tion of  this  grass,  as  part  of  a  general  system  of  cultivation  and 
improvement,  by  the  author  of  '  Arator/  is  sufficient  to  prove  that 
his  improvements  were  made  on  soils  far  better  than  such  as  are 
common.  Almost  every  zealous  cultivator  and  improver  (in  prospect) 
of  acid  soil  has  been  induced  to  attempt  clover  culture,  either  by 

*  This  effect  is  also  affirmed  by  Johnston,  p.  392. 


172  PECULIAR   BENEFIT   TO   CLOVER. 

the  recommendations  of  writers  on  this   grass,  or  by  the  success 
witnessed  on  better  constituted  soils  elsewhere.     T:  that 

has  been  gained,  by  any  of  these  numerous  efforts,  has  been  some- 
times to  obtain  one,  or  at  most  two  mowings,  of  middling  clover, 
on  some  very  rich  lot,  which  had  been  pre  pared  in  the  most  perfect 
manner  by  the  previous  cultivation  of  tobacco.  Even  in  such 
situations,  this  degree  of  success  could  only  be  obtained  by  the 
concurrence  of  the  most  favourable  seasons.  Severe  cold,  and 
sudden  alternations  of  temperature  in  winter  and  spring,  and  the 
spells  of  hot  and  dry  weather  which  we  usually  have  in  summer, 
were  alike  fatal  to  the  growth  of  clover,  on  so  unfriendly  a  soil. 
The  few  examples  of  partial  success  never  served  to  pay  for  the 
more  frequent  failures  and  losses;  and  a  few  years'  trial  would 
convince  the  most  ardent,  or  the  most  obstinate  advocate  for  the 
clover  husbandry,  that  its  introduction  on  the  ordinary  poor  soils 
of  lower  Virginia  was  absolutely  impossible ;  and  scarcely  practi- 
cable, even  partially,  on  such  lands  when  very  highly  manured. 
Still  the  general  failure  was,  by  common  consent,  attributed  to  any- 
thing but  the  true  cause.  There  was  always  some  reason  off 
for  each  particular  failure,  sufficient  to  cause  it,  and  but  for  which 
(it  was  supposed)  a  crop  might  have  been  raised.  Either  the 
young  plants  were  killed  by  freezing  soon  after  first  springing  from 
the  seed — or  a  drought  occurred  when  the  crop  was  most  exposed 
to  the  sun,  by  reaping  the  sheltering  crop  of  wheat — or  native  and 
hardy  weeds,  aided  by  very  favourable  weather,  overran  the  crop ; 
and  all  such  disasters  were  supposed  to  be  increased  in  force,  and 
rendered  generally  fatal,  by  our  sandy  soil,  and  hot  and  dry  sum- 
mers. But  after  the  true  evil,  the  acid  nature  of  the  soil,  is  re- 
moved by  marling,  clover  ceases  to  be  a  feeble  exotic.  If  with- 
standing the  early  dangers  of  frost  on  the  newly  sprout. 
and  of  drought  soon  after,  clover  is  then  naturalized  on  our  soil, 
and  is  able  to  contend  with  rival  plants,  and  to  undergo  every 
severity  and  change  of  season,  as  safely  as  our  crops  of  corn  and 
wheat — and  offers  to  wour  acceptance  the  fruition  of  those  hopes  of 
profit  and  improvement  from  this  grass,  with  which  previously  we 
had  only  been  deluded. 

After  much  waste  of  seed  and  labour,  and  years  of  disappointed 
efforts,  I  had  abandoned  clover  as  utterly  hopeless.  But  after 
marling  the  fields  on  which  the  raising  of  clover  had  been  vainly 
attempted,  there  arose  from  its  scattered  and  feeble  remains,  a 
growth  which  served  to  prove  that  its  cultivation  would  then  be 
safe  and  profitable.  It  has  since  been  gradually  extended  over  all 
the  fields.  It  will  stand  well,  and  maintain  a  healthy  growth  on 
the  poorest  marled  land;  but  the  crop  is  too  scanty  for  mowing,  or 
perhaps  for  profit  of  any  kind,  on  most  poor  sandy  soils,  unless 
aided  by  gypsum.     Newly  cleared  lands  yield  better  clover  than 


TIIE   BAD   WEEDS   PRODUCED   BY   CALXINQ.  17-3 

the  old,  though  the  latter  may  produce  as  heavy  grain  crops.  The 
remarkable  crops  of  clover  raised  on  some  very  poor  clay  soils,  after 
marling,  have  been  already  described.  This  grass,  even  without 
gypsum,  and  still  more  if  aided  by  that  manure,  will  add  greatly 
to  the  improving  power  of  marl ;  but  it  may  do  as  much  harm  as 
service,  if  we  greedily  take  from  the  soil  all  of  the  supply  of 
putrescent  matter  which  it  affords.* 

Some  other  plants,  less  welcome  than  clover,  are  equally  favoured 
by  marling.  Unless  both  the  tillage  and  the  rotation  of  crops  be 
good,  greensward  (jpo«  pratensis),  blue  grass  (poa  comjircssa), 
wire-grass  (cynodon  dactylori),  and  the  vetch,  or  partridge  pea 
(n'ria  sativa),  will  soon  increase  so  as  to  be  not  less  impediments 
to  tillage,  or  to  the  grain  crops,  than  manifest  evidences  of  an 
entire  change  in  the  character  aud  power  of  the  soil. 

[The  power  of  calcareous  manures  is  still  more  strongly  shown 
in  the  eradication  of  certain  plants,  as  has  been  before  incidentally 

[*  There  is  great  difficulty,  and  frequent  failure  of  securing  a  "stand" 
of  the  young  clover  plants,  even  when  the  subsequent  growth  of  those 
which  escape  early  destruction  is  ever  so  vigorous.  This  is  not  owing  to 
any  defect  of  soil  (after  calxiug),  but  to  our  climate.  It  is  necessary  to 
bow  clover  seed  before  the  close  of  winter,  to  avoid,  bj-  its  early  growth, 
the  greater  evils  of  the  following  summer's  drought,  which  most  affects  the 
youngest  plants.  The  time  of  sowing  is  usually  not  later  than  February. 
It  almost  always  happens  that  a  succeeding  warm  spell  causes  most  of  the 
seeds  to  sprout,  and  then  a  severe  frost  kills  them,  while  in  their  most 
tender  state.  Sometimes,  the  whole  young  growth  is  thus  killed  by  late 
frosts.  The  danger  from  drought,  and  the  hot  sun,  after  reaping  the 
shading  cover  of  wheat,  is  scarcely  less  than  from  frosts  at  the  earlier 
period.  One  or  both  of  these  disasters  have  occurred  for  four  of  the  first 
five  seasons  for  my  sowing  clover  on  Marlbourne ;  so  that  but  one  good 
'■stand"  of  plants,  and  of  course  but  one  sufficiently  thick  crop  was  ob- 
tained. The  loss  was  the  greater,  because  no  clover  had  previously  been 
on  the  laud,  and,  of  course,  there  was  no  volunteer  growth,  which  other- 
wise and  usually  furnishes  as  many  plants  as  the  new  seed.  Indeed,  after 
a  field  has  once  been  well  covered  with  clover,  and  the  ripe  seeds  ploughed 
under,  there  is  not  half  the  danger  at  any  time  afterwards  of  failing  to 
secure  a  stand  of  plants. 

But  a  greater  evil  has  been  found  than  this,  since  the  publication  (in 
1842)  of  the  passages  above  reporting  so  favourably  of  the  growth  and 
hardiness  of  clover.  On  the  Coggins  farm,  and  elsewhere,  on  t\\Q  formerly 
acid  soils  marled  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  the  clover  crops  have  recently 
been  much  more  apt  to  fail,  as  above,  and  are  much  inferior  in  product, 
even  when  not  failing  to  stand,  than  previously  ;  and  this  where  the  land 
certainly  has  not  lost  anything  of  its  richness,  and  where  other  crops  than 
clover  show  no  diminution.  It  is  not  certain  whether  this  change  is  owing 
to  the  land  being  "clover-sick,"  (a  common  result  in  England,  but  not 
known  here,  before),  or  that  the  acid  of  the  soil  (or  sub-soil)  is  increasing 
and  overbalancing  the  quantity  and  effects  of  the  calcareous  earth.  Some 
facts  sustain  this  latter  supposition.  Remarlings,  at  lighter  than  the  earlier 
rate,  have  been  found,  in  some  cases,  to  restore  the  before  reduced  power 
of  the  land  to  produce  clover. — 1849.] 
15* 


171  ACID   PLANTS   ERADICATED. 

mentioned.  Sorrel  (rumex  acetocdla)  is  the  most  plentiful  and 
injurious  weed  on  the  cultivated  acid  soils  of  lower  A  irginia;  an 
unmixed  growth  of  poverty  g  stida gracilis)  is  spread  over 

all  such  lands,  a  year  after  being  left  at  rest ;  at  a  somewhat  later 
time  broom-grass  (andropogon)  of  different  kinds  covers  them 
completely;  and  if  suffered  to  remain  unbroken  a  few  years  longer, 
a  thick  growth  of  young  pines  will  succeed.  But  as  soon  as  ?uch 
land  is  sufficiently  and  properly  marled,  there  remains  no  longer 
the  peculiar  disposition  or  even  power  of  the  soil  to  produce  ti.  - 
plants.  Sorrel  is  totally  removed,  and  poverty  grass  no  more  is  to 
be  found,  where  both  in  their  turn  before  had  entire  possession. 
The  appearance  of  a  single  tuft  of  either  of  these  plants  is  enough 
to  prove  that  the  acid  cmality  of  the  soil  on  that  spot  still  remains, 
and  that  either  more  marl,  or  more  complete  intermixture,  is  still 
wanting.  Thus,  the  presence  of  either  of  these  plants  is  the  most 
unerring  as  well  as  most  convenient  and  ready  indication  of  a  soil 
wanting  calcareous  manure.  The  most  laborious  analyses,  by  the 
most  able  chemists,  directed  to  ascertain  the  different  characters 
of  soils  in  this  respect,  are  not  to  be  compared  for  accuracy  to  the 
tests  furnished  by  either  the  appearance  or  total  absence  of  sorrel 
or  poverty  grass.  In  regard  to  broom-grass  and  pines,  the  change 
is  not  so  sudden,  or  complete ;  but  still  the  soil  will  have  been 
made  manifestly  unfriendly  to  both.  Some  striking  apparent  ex- 
ceptions to  these  rules  have  caused  some  persons  to  doubt  of  their 
correctness,  when  full  examination  of  the  circumstances  would 
have  confirmed  my  positions.  I  have  known  a  mere  top-dressing 
of  marl,  left  for  some  years  on  a  worn-out  old  field,  to  eradicate 
the  before  general  growth  of  broom-grass,  and  substitute  a  cover 
of  annual  weeds.  Yet  on  other  tillage  land,  after  marling  and  one 
crop  of  wheat  on  fallow,  I  have  seen  the  growth  of  broom-grass 
return,  and  seemingly  with  greater  than  its  former  vigour.  But 
this  return  and  vigour  were  but  temporary,  and  the  land  is  now 
comparatively  free  from  this  injurious  weed.  When  soil,  already 
filled  with  its  seeds,  is  very  imperfectly  mixed  with  marl  by  plough- 
ing, there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  broom-grass  springing  from  all 
the  spots  not  touched  by  the  marl,  whether  these  spots  be  above 
or  below  or  between  unmixed  masses  of  marl.  And  the  growth 
being  thin  and  scattered,  and  not  covering  the  surface  completely 
as  formerly,  will  cause  the  separate  tufts  of  broom-grass  to  be 
much  more  luxuriant,  and  greater  impediments  to  tillage,  than 
previously.  But  the  next  course  of  tillage  will  serve  to  mix  the 
marl  and  soil  completely,  and  remove  all  this  appearance  of  marl 
being  favourable,  instead  of  destructive  to  broom-grass.  Sorrel 
may  often  be  seen  growing  out  of  the  heaps  of  pure  marl; 
from  the  carts  on  acid  land,  and  the  heaps  left  thus,  nospread, 
through  a  summer.    But  this  apparent  and  very  striking  exception 


DIFFICULTIES   WITHOUT   CAUSE.  175 

may  bo  fully  explained.  The  heaps  of  marl,  thus  left,  had  not  as 
yet  by  any  intermixture  affected  the  original  composition  of  the 
soil  below  j  and  the  seeds  or  roots  of  sorrel  therein  were  therefore 
free  to  spring  and  grow ;  and  the  great  hardiness  and  remarkable 
vital  power  of  that  plant  enabled  it  to  rise  through  the  (to  it)  dead 
matter  and  great  obstruction  of  several  inches  thickness  of  pure 
marl  above.  On  examining  the  roots  of  sorrel  thus  growing  out 
of  marl,  it  will  be  seen  clearly,  and  invariably,  that  they  drew  all 
their  support  from  the  still  acid  soil  below,  and  merely  passed 
through  the  marl,  without  drawing  anything  therefrom.*] 


CHAPTER  XX. 

DIRECTIONS   FOR  THE   USE  OF  MARL  IN  CONNEXION  WITH   OTHER 
FARMING  OPERATIONS. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

From  the  foregoing  reasoning  and  statements,  the  general  course 
most  proper  to  pursue  in  using  calcareous  manures,  and  for  cultiva- 
tion in  connexion  with  them,  may  be  well  enough  deduced.  But 
as  I  have  found  that,  notwithstanding  all  such  aids,  many  persons 
still  require  and  apply  for  more  special  directions  to  guide  their 
operations,  the  following  suggestions  and  remarks  will  be  offered, 
at  the  risk  of  their  being  deemed  superfluous.  These  directions, 
like  all  the  foregoing  reasoning,  may  apply  generally,  if  not  en- 
tirely, to  the  use  of  all  kinds  of  calcareous  manures,  and  to  soils 
of  every  region.  But  to  avoid  too  wide  a  range,  I  shall  consider 
them  as  applying  more  especially  to  the  lands  of  the  tide-water 
region ;  and  as  addressed  to  farmers  who  have  just  begun  the  im- 
provement of  such  lands,  by  means  of  the  fossil  shells  or  marl  of 
the  same  region. 

Many  persons,  at  first,  attach  much  importance  to  some  of  the 
conditions  of  marling  which  I  deem  scarcely  worth  consideration. 
Numerous  inquiries  have  been  addressed  to  me  for  the  purpose  of 

*  In  England  the  effect  of  lime  in  preventing  the  growth  of  sour  plants 
is  stated  by  Johnston,  though  most  of  the  plants  are  different  from  ours 
of  that  character.  Elsewhere  he  speaks  doubtfully,  and  upon  report  only, 
of  calcareous  manure  eradicating  sorrel.  He  says,  liming  "kills  heath, 
moss,  and  sour  and  benty  (agrostis)  grasses,  and  brings  up  a  sweet  herbage, 
mixed  with  red  and  white  clovers."  "  All  fodder,  whether  natural  or  arti- 
ficial, is  said  to  be  sounder  and  more  nourishing  when  grown  upon  land  to 
■which  lime  has  been  applied  abundantly.  On  beuty  grass  the  richest 
animal  manure  often  produces  little  improvement,  until  a  dressing  of  iime 
bus  been  laid  on."  p.  391. 


176  PROPER  PROCEDURE  OF  BEGINNERS. 

learning,  in  the  case  of  each  particular  applicant  for  directions,  ai 
what  time  and  in  what  manner  to  apply  marl,  and  which  of  different 
kinds  of  marl  to  prefer  for  different  soils.  There  would  be  but 
small  danger  of  misleading  any  one,  if  to  all  such  inquiries  this 
one  general  answer  were  given  :  "  Put  on  the  most  accessible  marl, 
over  as  much  land  as  possible,  and  speedily,  without  regard  to  any 
attendant  circumstances  whatever."  If  the  soil  requires  marling 
(and  there  arc  scarcely  any  exceptions  in  lower  Virginia),  and  the 
available  bed  is  truly  and  sufficiently  calcareous,  there  can  be  no 
important  error  made  in  applying  it,  except  by  too  heavy  dressings, 
or  by  very  unequal  spreading.  If  merely  avoiding  these  two 
errors,  I  should  deem  that  procedure  the  best  by  which  the  new 
beginner  can  put  on  his  fields  the  greatest  quantity  of  calcareous 
earth  in  the  shortest  time. 

But  though  comparatively  of  little  importance,  still  there  are 
advantages  and  disadvantages  to  be  found  in  the  circumstances  to 
which  so  much  undue  importance  has  been  attached.  These  I  will 
proceed  to  remark  upon. 

To  marl  extensively  or  economically,  it  is  essential  (as  has  been 
before  stated)  to  devote  to  this  business  a  certain  labouring  force, 
either  for  the  whole  year,  or  for  such  certain  parts  of  the  year  as 
may  be  deemed  more  proper ;  and  for  the  time  this  force  shall  be 
so  directed,  the  proprietor  must  not  allow  the  labour  to  be  diverted 
to  any  other  object.  If  he  draws  upon  the  marling  force  whenever 
he  or  his  overseer  thinks  the  labour  is  needed  to  forward  other  farm 
operations,  it  will  soon  be  found  that  the  marling  will  be  generally 
suspended;  and  yet,  in  all  probability,  the  other  labours  be  not  the 
better  performed  because  of  this  always  ready  resource  for  extra 
aid. 

Then  supposing  that  the  marling  is  going  on  throughout  the 
year,  or  through  different  designated  portions  of  the  year,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  marl  cannot  be  always  applied  to  any  one  condition 
of  the  land.  In  the  beginning,  the  new  marler  should  aim  to  cover 
as  much  land  as  possible  for  his  next  corn  "or  other  tillage  crop. 
After  that  crop  shall  have  been  planted,  the  marling  can  proceed 
no  farther  on  that  field  ;  and  the  operation  will  be  then  commenced 
on  the  field  for  corn  tillage  the  following  year.  It  is  much  better 
that  marling  should  be  followed  first  by  some  tilled  crop ;  so  that 
the  different  ploughings  and  harrowings  shall  well  mix  the  marl 
and  soil  throughout,  to  the  depth  of  the  ploughing.  This  mixing 
is  best  and  most  certainly  effected,  when  the  marl  has  been  spread 
over  the  ploughed  surface.  The  subsequent  shallow  tillage,  by 
small  ploughs,  cultivators,  harrows,  and  hand-hoes,  at  every  move- 
ment continually  stirs  and  mixes  the  marl  with  the  soil. 

But  if  the  subsequent  tillage  processes  should  be  such  as  to 
effect  the  object  of  mixing  the  marl  and  soil  intimately,  I  would 


INTERMIXTURE   01"    MAN  IKE    AND   SOIL.  177 

prefer  spreading  the  marl  before  ploughing,  on  the  vegetable  cover 
of  the  land.  When  thus  placed  in  contact  with  the  putrescent 
matter,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  marl  acted  more  speedily  and 
better.  But,  if  marl  be  thus  applied  on  the  grass  and  ploughed 
under,  the  first  ploughing  should  not  be  deeper  than  will  be  at 
least  one  thorough  ploughing  for  the  subsequent  tillage  of  the  first 
crop.  Otherwise,  the  marl  will  not  be  mixed  with  the  soil  above, 
and  will  remain  unchanged  and  inert  in  the  masses,  whether  soft 
and  loose,  or  lumpy,  as  turned  under  by  the  plough.  In  such 
cases,  the  marl  can  have  but  little  effect,  until  brought  up  again  by 
as  deep  a  ploughing,  perhaps  some  years  after. 

Each  of  these  modes  of  applying  marl  then  has  different  ad- 
vantages; and  may  have  also  disadvantages,  if  they  be  not 
guarded  against.  But  in  either  mode,  by  proper  care,  the  important 
condition  of  sufficient  mixture  of  the  marl  and  soil  may  be  secured. 
When  rnavl  must  be  ploughed  under  (for  a  corn  crop),  it  is  import- 
ant that  the  first  ploughing  should  be  as  shallow  as  consistent  with 
good  culture,  and  that  the  tillage,  in  part,  shall  be  fully  as  deep. 
If  it  be  preferred  to  spread  marl  on  the  ploughed  surface,  that 
may  be  done,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  land,  even  after  dropping 
the  marl,  throughout  the  previous  summer,  on  the  grassy  surface. 
For  this  purpose,  the  marl  heaps  must  be  dropped  accurately  along 
the  middles  of  beds,  if  the  land  was  then  in  beds  designed  to 
be  reversed;  or  along  parallel  lines,  marked  by  the  plough,  if 
not  in  beds.  The  spreading  must  be  postponed  until  after  the  in- 
tervals of  land  between  the  rows  of  marl  shall  have  been  ploughed 
for  the  next  crop,  leaving  merely  the  narrow  strips  on  which  the 
heaps  lie.  In  this  manner,  from  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  surface  is  ploughed  before  the  spreading  of  the  marl.  This 
is  next  done,  over  the  whole  surface,  after  which  the  before  omitted 
strips  are  ploughed. 

After  the  first  year,  generally,  the  farmer  may  be  able  to  marl 
fast  enough  to  keep  ahead  of  his  cultivation ;  and  even  should  he 
(to  effect  that  end)  reduce  the  extent  of  his  previous  tillage  one- 
half,  it  will  be  best  for  him  not  to  put  an  acre  under  crop  which 
has  not  been  first  marled.  Fifty  acres  can,  in  most  cases,  be  both 
marled  and  tilled  at  least  as  cheaply  as  one  hundred  can  be  tilled 
without  marling ;  and  the  fifty  with  marl  will  usually  (if  on  soil 
before  acid),  produce  as  much  in  the  first  course  of  crops  as  the 
hundred  without,  and  much  more  afterwards.  _ 

The  most  important  auxiliary  to  marl,  is  to  supply  vegetable  2 
matter  (or  any  putrescent  matter)  to  the  land.  The  cheapest  and  j 
most  efficient  means,  and  especially  for  poor  lands  having  no  foreign  V 
sources  of  supply,  will  be  found  in  the  non-grazing  Bystem,  by  < 
which  the  land,  when  not  under  cultivation,  manures  itself,  by  the  ; 
growth,  and  death,  and  decay  of  its  own  weeds  and  grass.     Poor 


178  VEGETABLE    MATTER   ESSENTIAL. 

/  and  scanty  as  may  be  such   products  and  sucli  manuring  of  poor 

!  lands,  they  very  much  exceed  any  substituted  supplies;  and  more- 
over cost  nothing.* 

That  rotation  of  crops  which  gives  most  vegetable  matter  to  the 
soil,  is  best  to  aid  the  effects  of  marl  recently  applied.  The  four- 
shift  rotation  is  convenient  in  this  respect,  because  two  or  three 
years  of  rest  may  be  given  in  each  course  of  the  rotation  at  first, 
upon  the  poorest  land ;  and  the  number  of  exhausting  crops  may 
be  increased,  first  to  two,  then  to  three  in  the  rotation,  as  the  soil 
advances  to  higher  states  of  productiveness.  But  it  is  only  while 
laud  is  poor  that  I  would  advise  the  four-shift  rotation,  with  as 
much  as  two  years  rest  in  the  course ;  or  the  entire  exclusion  of 
grazing  under  any  rotation.  Both  tend  to  make  the  fields  foul  with 
both  weeds  and  insects ;  and  when  the  land  has  been  under  such 
treatment  for  some  8  or  10  years,  and  has  been  made  richer  as  well 
as  fouler  thereby,  it  will  be  expedient  to  graze  moderately  and 
judiciously,  and  to  adopt  a  different  and  better  rotation. 

After  marling,  clover  should  be  sown,  and  gypsum  on  the  clover. 
On  poor,  though  marled  land,  of  course  only  a  poor  growth  of 
clover  can  be  expected ;  but  wherever  other  manures  are  given, 
and  especially  if  gypsum  is  found  to  act  well,  the  crop  of  clover 
becomes  a  most  important  aid  to  the  improvement  by  marling. 

_ 

*  If  there  is  one  of  the  requisitions  or  accompaniments  of  marling 
more  insisted  on  than  all  others — and  both  by  my  theoretical  views  and 
practical  instructions — in  all  my  writing  on  this  subject — it  is  the  necessity 

|  for  providing  organic  (or  putrescent)  manure  for  all  land  in  full  proportion 
to  the  calcareous  earth  supplied.  Without  this  being  done,  not  only  will 
the  early  effects  of  the  calxing  be  small,  but,  in  the  end,  the  land  will  be 
more  completely  exhausted  of  its  actual  organic  ingredient,  and  conse- 
quently and  ultimately  of  its  fertility,  than  if  it  had  not  been  calxed.  It 
is  not  necessary,  however,  that  all  the  required  organic  manure  shall  be 
furnished  from  the  stable  and  stock-pens — or  shall  even  be  what  is  ordina- 
rily termed  manure.  As  much  of  this  as  may  be  available  should  be  ob- 
tained from  these  sources.  But  a  much  larger  supply,  and  far  more 
cheaply,  will  be  furnished  by  the  fields  themselves,  in  their  vegetable 
cover,  whether  of  clover  or  weeds,  suffered  to  grow  and  to  die  and  rot  on 
or  under  the  soil.  This  is  the  natural  and  the  greatest  source  of  supply 
of  organic  manure  to  the  calxing  farmer — an  1  which  he  can  increase  to 
any  desired  extent,  by  merely  giving  more  time  for  the  land  to  rest  from 
tillage,  and  to  produce  more  of  alimentary  or  manuring  growths. 

But  as  often  and  as  strongly  as  I  have  urged  the  indispensable  necessity 

I  for  this  course,  scarcely  any  of  my  disciples  have  obeyed  the  injunction 
fully  and  properly.  Nine  out  of  ten  of  all  the  farmers  who  have  used 
marl,  and  to  great  profit,  still  have  drawn  too  heavily  from  their  land,  and 
are  lessening,  instead  of  continuing  to  increase,  the  fund  of  productive 
power  in  the  soil,  which  calxing  had  made  active.  But  with  this  important 
truth  they  cannot  be  impressed.  They  cannot  be  persuaded  that  they  are 
operating  to  exhaust  their  fields,  while  they  still  continue  to  derive  from 
them  crops  three-fold  greater  than  formerly  could  be  grown. 


ORGANIC    MANURES.  170 

TVithout  clover,  and  without  returning  the  greater  part  of  the  early 
product  to  the  soil,  the  greatest  value  of  marling  will  not  be  seen. 
A  small  proportion  of  the  clover  may  be  used  for  mowing  and 
grazing ;  and  in  a  few  years  even  this  small  share  will  far  exceed 
all  the  grass  that  the  fields  furnished  before  marling  and  the  limit- 
ation of  grazing.  This  limitation,  which  is  at  first  objected  to  as 
lessening  the  food  of  grazing  stock,  and  their  products,  within  a 
few  years  becomes  the  source  of  a  far  more  abundant  supply  of 
both. 

During  the  first  few  years  of  marling,  but  little  attention  can 
(of  indeed  ought  to)  be  given  to  making  putrescent  manures,  be- 
cause the  soil  much  more  needs  calcareous  manure ;  and  three  or 
four  acres  may  generally  be  supplied  with  the  latter,  as  cheaply  as 
one  with  the  former.  But  putrescent  manures  cannot  anywhere  be 
used  to  so  much  advantage  as  upon  land  after  being  made  calcare- 
ous ;  and  no  farmer  can  make  and  apply  vegetable  matter  as  ma- 
nure to  greater  profit  tban  he  who  has  mailed  his  poor  fields,  and 
can  then  withdraw  his  labour  from  applying  the  more  to  the  less 
valuable  manure.  After  the  farm  has  been  marled  over  at  tho 
light  rate  recommended  at  first  (say  200  to  300  bushels),  every 
effort  should  be  made  to  accumulate  and  apply  vegetable  manures ; 
and  with  their  gradual  extension  over  the  fields,  a  second  applica- 
tion of  marl  may  be  made,  making  the  whole  cmantity,  in  both  the 
first  and  second  marling,  500  or  600  bushels  to  the  acre,  or  even 
more ;  which  quantity  might  have  been  hurtful  if  given  at  first, 
but  which  will  now  be  not  only  harmless,  but  necessary  to  fix  and 
retain  so  much  putrescent  and  nutritive  matter  in  the  soil. 

The  above  injunction,  that  "  every  effort  should  be  made  to  ac- 
cumulate and  apply  vegetable  manures,"  should  not  be  limited,  as 
most  new  improvers  would  be  apt  to  do,"  to  the  mere  economical  use 
of  tho  vegetable  materials  for  manure  furnished  by  the  crops,  and 
those  only  as  prepared  by  being  first  used  as  litter  for  animals. 
Not  only  these,  but  every  other  vegetable  and  putrescent  material 
that  is  accessible  should  be  saved  and  applied,  and  even  without 
any  intermediate  process  of  preparation,  and  at  any  time  of  the 
year,  and  state  of  the  fields,  provided  no  growing  or  commencing , 
crop  be  thereby  molested.  Surplus  straw,  not  needed  for  food  or  ) 
litter,  is  most  valuable  and  cheaply  applied  as  top-dressing  to  clover , 
or  other  grass ;  though  it  is  an  inconvenient  and  troublesome  ma- 
nure if  soon  after  to  be  ploughed  under.  Leaves  from  the  woods 
of  the  farm  may  be  used  most  profitably  in  the  same  manner,  to 
the  full  extent  of  the  resources  offered.  And  though  the  manuring 
operations  on  the  Coggins  Point  farm  have  not  yet  been  extended 
beyond  the  last-named  putrescent  material  (and  of  that,  not  to 
much  extent),  it  is  believed  that  other  and  abundant  sources  yet 
remain  untried  and  unproductive  on  that  and  most  other  farms,  and 


180  RESOURCES   FOR   ORGANIC    MAN  LUES. 

to  use  which  would  be  but  a  waste  of  labour  or  money,  if  in  ad- 
vance of  marling.  Among  the  most  abundant  of  such  materials, 
may  be  mentioned  marsh  grasses  and  marsh  or  pond  mud,  espe- 
cially if  used  in  compost ;  and  also  the  purchase  of  rich  alimentary 
manures  from  towns,  to  be  carried  by  land  or  by  water  carriage  to 
much  greater  distances  than  has  yet  been  done,  or  can  be  afforded 
to  be  done,  on  other  lands.  Even  saw-dust  and  spent  tanner's 
bark,  which,  because  of  their  insolubility,  are  generally  deemed  of 
no  value  as  manures,  would  form  important  and  valuable  materials 
for  fertilization,  in  situations  where  they  can  be  obtained  cheaply 
and  in  great  quantity.  Mixing  these  or  other  insoluble  vegetable 
substances  with  rich  putrescent  matters,  and  still  more  if  with 
some  alkaline  matter  also,  would  render  them  soluble,  and  convert 
them  to  food  for  plants.  These  inert  substances  would  be  most 
profitably  used  as  litter  for  stables  and  cattle  pens  in  summer,  where 
the  ordinary  more  decomposable  materials  are  too  quickly  rotted, 
and  subject  to  great  loss  thereby. 

But  putting  aside  the  consideration  of  all  such  unusual  or  un- 
tried resources  and  operations  for  additional  fertilization,  and  limit- 
ing the  present  view  merely  to  the  ordinary  materials  furnished  by 
the  fields  of  every  farm,  the  progress  and  profit  of  improvement 
by  such  means  only,  after  marling,  will  be  greater  than  will  be  at 
first  believed  by  most  cultivators  of  acid  soils,  not  yet  marled  or 
limed.  If,  on  such  soils,  the  general  course  above  advised  be  pur- 
sued (and  using  merely  the  resources  of  the  farm  after  marling), 
the  products  of  crops  on  all  the  marled  land  usually  will  be  doubled 
in  the  first  course  of  the  rotation — often  in  the  first  crop  immedi- 
ately following  the  marling;  and  the  original  product  may  be 
expected  to  be  tripled  by  the  third  return  of  the  rotation.  And 
this  may  be  from  merely  applying  marl  in  sufficient  (and  not  ex- 
cessive) quantities,  and  giving  the  land  two  years'  rest  in  four 
without  grazing.  But  on  the  parts  having  the  aid  of  farm-yard 
and  other  putrescent  manures,  and  of  clover,  still  greater  returns 
may  be  obtained. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

ACTUAL  IMPROVEMENTS  AND   RESULTS  OF  MARLING.      PECULIAR 
VALUE  OF  SANDY  SOILS. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

When  such  promises  of  improvement  and  of  profit  from  marling 
are  stated  as  in  the  preceding  chapter,  there  will  naturally  occur  to 
the  mind  of  every  inexperienced  reader  the  questions,  "  lias  the 
writer  himself  met  with  so  much  success — and  what  have  been  the 
actual  results  of  his  labours  in  the  mode  of  improvement  which  ho 
so  strongly  recommends  V  From  these  questions  the  writer  has 
no  excuse  for  shrinking  ;  though  to  answer  them  there  must  neces- 
sarily be  obtruded  much  egotism,  and  references  made  to  many 
trivial  details,  which  are  certainly  not  worth  being  offered  to  public 
notice,  except  as  explanatory  and  in  support  of  the  more  general 
and  important  facts  asserted  in  this  essay. 

•In  answer,  then,  to  these  supposed  questions,  I  have  to  admit 
that,  in  my  earlier  marling  labours,  the  progress  of  fertilization 
was  not  so  rapid,  in  general,  and  the  average  profits  therefrom  not 
so  great,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  general  views  and  antici- 
pations stated  in  the  last  preceding  chapter ;  though,  more  recently, 
the  benefits  have  been  much  greater,  and  full  as  profitable  as  were 
anticipated,  or  could  be  counted  upon,  from  the  foregoing  views 
applied  to  the  existing  circumstances  of  the  lands  under  the  opera- 
tions. Among  the  sufficient  causes  of  the  stated  slower  improve- 
ment, and  lower  profits  of  my  earlier  labours,  were  the  following : 

1st.  The  greater  part  of  my  land,  on  the  Coggins  Point  farm  in 
Prince  George  county,  was  not  of  either  such  surface  or  soil  as  is 
adapted  for  the  greatest  improvement  by  calxing :  some  having 
been  naturally  calcareous,  and  therefore  not  needing  marl ;  and  a 
large  part  of  the  farm,  where  hilly  or  even  of  undulating  surface, 
having  lost  more  or  less  of  its  soil — and  on  very  many  slopes,  all 
the  soil — by  the  washing  rains  acting  on  bad  tillage. 

&d.  Having  at  first  everything  to  learn  in  regard  to  the  practice, 
and  to  prove  by  actual  trial,  without  any  light  from  either  expe- 
rience, or  the  prior  or  cotemporary  operations  of  other  farmers, 
much  of  my  labour  was  lost  uselessly  in  wrong  procedure  ,  or  was 
worse  spent  in  excessive  applications  of  marl,  which  subsequently 
proved  to  be  injurious. 

3d.  The  fitness  given  to  the  before  acid  soil,  by  marling,  to  pro- 
duce clover,  was  not  found  out,  until  several  years  after  that  best 
auxiliary  to  the  first  improvement  ought  to  have  been  in  full  use. 
16  (181) 


182  OAUSE  ui'  DSFSOTIYX  &K8ULX8. 

4tli.  Because  of  the  want  of  enough  labour  to  use  properly  both 
calcareous  and  putrescent  manures,  the  collecting  aud  applying  of 
the  latter  were  greatly  neglected  as  long  as  there  was  full  employ- 
ment in  and  need  for  marling. 

5th.  The  adoption  of  cotton  culture,  for  five  years,  occupied  for 
that  crop  and  for  that  time  the  best  land  of  the  farm,  and  some- 
times the  whole  of  the  very  good  land,  and  took  all  the  prepared 
putrescent  manure,  to  the  great  diminution  of  other  crops ;  while 
this  culture  caused  (by  its  clean  and  continual  tillage)  more  wast- 
ing of  soil,  and  more  detriment  to  general  fertilization,  than  grain 
and  clover  husbandry. 

6th.  The  general  bad  practical  management,  and  want  of  economy 
in  details,  which,  I  have  to  confess,  have  attended  all  my  business, 
and  throughout  my  life,  of  course  injuriously  affected  this  import- 
ant branch  of  my  farming  ;  though  in  a  less  degree,  because  it  was, 
as  much  as  possible,  kept  under  my  personal  and  close  attention. 

7th.  In  1827,  my  residence  was  removed  from  my  farm,  and  my 
personal  attention  much  decreased ;  and  some  years  later  was  en- 
tirely withdrawn. 

To  what  extent  all  these  drawbacks  to  full  success  operated,  as 
well  as  the  actual  degree  of  success  achieved,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  tabular  statement  of  the  crops  made,  both  before  and  since 
marling,  and  from  1813  to  1851.  The  much  greater  increase  of 
production  obtained  in  later  years  on  the  Coggins  Point  farm  was 
mainly  owing  to  the  adoption  of  a  better  rotation  of  crops,  includ- 
ing clover-fallow  for  wheat,  and  to  the  residence,  and  personal  and 
judicious  direction  of  my  eldest  son,  who  since  the  beginning  of 
1839  has  been  the  occupant  of  the  farm  (and  more  lately  the  sole 
proprietor),  and,  throughout  this  time,  the  sole  director  of  its  cul- 
tivation and  general  management.  Until  this  change  of  direction 
occurred,  the  actual  measure  of  productive  power  in  the  laud, 
which  had  been  created  by  the  marling,  was  not  known.  A  large 
share  of  this  power,  before  dormant  and  concealed,  was  now  brought 
for  the  first  time  into  action,  and  made  apparent.  The  like  condi- 
tions of  residence,  attentive  supervision,  and  a  better  system  of 
rotation,  in  my  own  case,  also  greatly  hastened  and  increased  the 
success  of  my  later  marling  labours  (resumed  after  a  long  diversion 
of  my  efforts  to  different  objects),  in  a  new  locality,  and  ufidcr 
very  difficult  and  also  very  different  circumstances  from  those  of 
my  earlier  farming.  These  recent  labours,  and  the  results,  will 
again  be  brought  forward. 

The  following  general  statement  of  the  then  condition  of  the 
farm  was  published  in  1842.  The  still  later  and  much  greater 
productiveness  will  appear  in  the  annexed  table  of  crops,  which 
will  be  now  extended  so  as  to  include  the  latest  obtained. 

The  many  and  extensive  old    galled  parts  of    sloping  land, 


ACTUAL   RESULTS   ON   COGGINS   FARM.  183 

■wherever  dressed  with  marl,  and  even  without  the  farther  help  of 
barn-yard  manure,  arc  now  nearly  all  skinned  over  hy  a  newly 
formed  soil ;  and  though  such  soil  is  still  both  poor  and  thin,  and 
may  yet  long  remain  so,  the  whole  of  its  present  productive  power 
is  due  to  marling;  as  such  galled  land  was  before  naked,  entirely 
barren,  and  irreclaimable  by  other  manures.  Where  much  or  rich 
putrescent  matter  has  been  also  applied  to  galls,  with  or  after  marl, 
both  rich  and  durable  soil  has  been  formed,  though  at  great  cost. 

The  more  level  parts  of  the  old  and  greatly  exhausted  fields,  and 
the  newly  cleared  wood-land  (both  kinds  being  naturally  poor,  thin, 
and  acid  soils),  are  the  only  lands  which  have  enjoyed  anything 
like  the  full  beneficial  effects  of  marling.  These  have  been  in- 
creased in  product  from  5  and  10  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  (which  j 
may  be  considered  the  usual  minimum  and  maximum  rates),  to  at  y 
least  20,  and  in  some  cases  to  30  bushels,  even  without  the  aid  of 
barn-yard  manure.  Where  putrescent  manures  have  been  also 
applied,  they  have  raised  the  products  much  higher ;  and  these 
manures  are  now  as  durable  and  as  profitable  as  formerly  they  were 
fleeting  and  profitless  in  effect. 

The  before  poor  and  light  soil  -which  formed  the  greater  part  ot 
the  old  arable  lands,  and  which  was  not  above  three  inches  in  depth 
(and  scarcely  two  inches  when  in  its  natural  forest  state),  is  now 
seven  inches  or  more,  and  requires  three-horse  ploughs  to  break  it 
to  proper  depth,  where  the  one-horse  ploughs  formerly  would  fre- 
quently reach  and  bring  up  the  barren  sub-soil. 

The  fertilizing  operation  of  marl  has  increased  with  time,  even 
where  the  effects  were  also  the  most  speedy,  and  most  profitable  on 
the  first  crop  after  the  application. 

The  soil,  which  before  was  totally  unable  to  support  red  clover, 
is  now  f except  on  the  most  sandy  spots)  well  adapted  to  the  growth, 


and  capable,  according  to  the  grade  of  fertility,  of  receiving  tho.A 
great  benefit  which  is  offered  by  that  most  valuable  of  improving j 

crops.  , 

And  generally— notwithstanding  all  the  many  and  great  errors 
committed  in  my  marling  (for  want  of  experience),  and  of  still  worse 
o-cncral  farm  management— -and  though  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  old  land  was  either  but  little  or  not  at  all  fit  to  be  improved 
by  marling— and  though  the  land  added  since  by  new  clearings  was 
all  very  poor,  and  worthless  for  its  natural  producing  power— still, 
the  general  annual  grain  products  of  the  farm  have  been  increased 
from  three  to  four-fold,  and  the  net  profit  of  cultivation  and  the 
iutrinsic  value  of  the  laud  have  been  increased  in  a  still  greater 
proportion. — [1842.] 


1S4 


INCREASE   OF   CROPS    FliOM    MAULING. 


Statement  of  marling  and  crops,  on  CoggvM  Point  (note  Beech- 
wood)  Farm.** 


a 
o 

Acres  marled. 

WHEAT. 

COEN. 

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9    % 

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a   c 
<3 

If  13 

0 

145 

810 

5.58 

125 

225(1 

18. 

1814 

0 

110 

550 

5. 

163 

1340 

8.18 

1815 

0 

78 

520 

6.67 

136 

1955 

14.88 

1816 

0 

104 

896 

8.61 

144 

2300 

16.90 

1817 

0 

79 

595 

7.52 

188 

10.90 

1818 

f  15 

63 

450 

7.14 

•  160 

t-2670 

16.68 

1819 
1820 

62 
25 

132 

1015 
1020 

7.69 

*137 

a  164 

14.59 

119 

8l67 

♦2780 

17^ 

S  j 

v.    . 

1821 

80 

160 

1049 

6.56 

*77 

§1775 

23. 

r      - 

x  2 

1822 

93 

154 

1027 

10.56 

a  114 

*2250 

19.7:; 

0  0 

0  zz 

1823 

100 

139 

1475 

10.61 

158 

•3000 

19. 

l« 

tt^> 

1824 
1825 

80 
50 

194 

1850 

9.54 

156 

*  34(  15 

21.86 

195 

1452 

7J' 

70 

1254 

17. 91 

48 

1826 

24 

170 

1390 

8.17 

138 

*2275 

16.48 

70 

1827 

827 

151 

1366 

9.04 

104 

•1666 

16. 

76 

37» 

1828 

.0 

153 

936 

6.12 

112 

1750 

15.62 

56 

1820 

.0 

134 

908 

6.78 

133 

2300 

17.37 

96 

1830 
1831 
1832 

1835 

50 
0 
0 

501 

33 

2160 

q" 

= 

126 

2830 

22.46 

.s 

5  ^ 

■  .5 

4000 

1836 

10 

184 

e394 

2.17 

4415 

0  *— ' 

<2    0"~ 

1837 

0 

147 

2056 

13.98 

2620 

< 

1838 
1839 

0 

2 

150 
167 

2117 
U252 

14.11 
7.49 

*2O70 

4500 

190 

23.68 

30 

1840 

cl2 

228 

1942 

8.61 

143 

3540 

24.4(1 

50 

5e 

1841 

'32 

212 

2475 

11.62 

146 

3800 

25.33 

10 

10  e 

1842 

30 

250 

3377 

13.50 

155 

50 

10« 

1843 

{   »13/ 

Bl5 

S07 

4725 

15.39 

166 

3380 

20.36 

1844 

270 

4600 

17. 04 

100 

2500 

25. 

1845 

8  70 

270 

3600 

13.33 

100 

1600 

?16. 

1846 

290 

3000 

1 10.34 

140 

3115 

22. 25 

1847 

8  90 

234 

2571 

u  10.99 

144 

5070 

35'.  20 

1848 

s5 

274 

3544 

12.93 

150 

4(125 

30.83 

1849 

s40 

225 

2660 

x 11.55 

170 

5010 

29.47 

1850 

b90 

321 

4112 

12.81 

110 

3150 

28.64 

1851 

un 

263 

4420 

16.81 

118 

3750 

32.61 

**  After  1827,  I  ceased  to  keep  a  regular  farm  journal,  as  bad  been  done 
before.  Hence  tbe  blanks  in  the  table  which  appear  afterwards  to  1836. 
The  occupancy  and  direction  of  the  preseut  proprietor,  Edmund  Rufiin, 
jr.,  began  with  the  year  1839. 


cRors  of  coqcins  point  far  jr.        185 

Explanatory  Remarks  on  the  Land  and  its  Management. 

Quantity  of  land  for  cultivation  (exclusive  of  -waste  parts),  at  first  472 
acres  ;  increased  by  new  clearings  to  <'>02  by  1826;  to  662  in  18:52  ;  and  no 
more  in  1842,  though  30  more  acres  have  since  been  cleared  and  tilled,  be- 
cause as  much  in  1S3G  converted  to  a  permanent  pasture.  All  the  new 
land  added  by  clearing  was  poor,  and  very  few  acres  of  it  would  have  pro- 
duced more  than  10  bushels  of  corn,  or  5  of  wheat  (without  the  marling), 
alter  the  3  or  4  first  crops.  Of  course  the  new  land  added  served  to  reduce 
instead  of  increasing  the  general  average  product  per  acre. 

Rotation  at  first  of  three-shifts,  viz.:  1  corn,  2  wheat  on  the  richer  half, 
3  at  rest,  and  after  1814  not  grazed.  This  changed  gradually  to  4  shifts 
(by  1823)  of  1  corn,  2  wheat,  3  and  4  at  rest.  1820,  began  to  fallow  for 
wheat,  in  part  and  only  in  some  years.  In  1826  or  1827  began  to  sow  the 
wheat  fields  generally  in  clover,  and  about  1835,  to  fallow  a  part  (say  one- 
fourth  to  one-third)  of  each  clover  field  for  wheat  the  year  preceding  the 
crop  of  corn.  This  changed  in  1840  to  a  five-shift  rotation,  one-fifth  of  the 
arable  land  being  in  corn,  two-fifths  in  wheat  (and  oats),  and  two-fifths  in 
clover  (or  Avceds),  or  other  green  or  manuring  crops. 

The  crops  of  wheat  for  first  six  years  (1813  to  1818)  raised  on  the  richer 
parts  of  each  shift,  making  not  much  more  than  one-half  the  land  only; 
the  remainder  being  then  much  too  poor  to  be  sown.  As  these  poorest  parts 
were  marled,  all  were  sown  in  wheat,  in  their  turn.  Therefore,  the  earlier 
average  products  of  wheat  per  acre  as  stated,  were  for  the  richer  part  of 
the  land,  while  since  1822  the  average  is  for  the  worst  as  well  as  the  best 
land  of  each  shift. 

Grazing  the  clover  fields  commenced  partially  about  1830,  and  increased 
since.  Latterly  about  20  head  of  cattle  and  100  of  hogs  on  the  clover 
during  the  grazing  season. 

The  crops  of  hay,  corn-fodder,  &c,  being  all  consumed  on  the  farm, 
their  products  have  not  been  estimated. 

Notes  on  Particular  Crops,  £e. 

a  1818  to  1822,  inclusive,  27  acres  of  rich  embanked  marsh  in  corn  every 
year,  which  served  to  increase  these  crops,  and  their  average — which  land 
6unk  too  low  after  1823  for  corn,  and  has  since  been  under  the  tide. 

fin  1818,  the  first  marling. 

1828,  oats  on  17  acres. 

182G  to  1830,  a  succession  of  bad  seasons  for  wheat,  or  of  crops — made 
much  worse  (as  I  afterwards  believed),  by  the  land  having  been  so  long 
kept  from  being  grazed  and  trodden  by  cattle. 

*  These  crops  not  actually  measured,  but  amounts  otherwise  estimated. 
All  other  quantities  measured,  unless  stated  otherwise. 

?  The  richer  half  of  the  shift  only  cultivated  in  corn  this  year  (1821). 

li  Marling  nearly  extended  over  all  the  cleared  arable  land  requiring  it, 
and  injurious  where  too  thick. 

From  1825  to  1830  inclusive,  the  richest  land  of  the  farm  kept  under 
cotton,  which  served  greatly  to  lessen  the  general  products,  and  still  more 
the  average  product  per  acre  of  the  wheat  crops,  during  that  time.  Also, 
fallowing  for  wheat  had  ceased  (the  suitable  laud  being  occupied  by  cotton), 
and  this  had  served  still  more  to  reduce  the  crops  of  wheat.  The  largest 
crops  of  wheat  raised  previously  (1819  to  1825)  were  partly  owing  to  the 
crop  being  in  part  raised  on  summer  fallow.  And  though  this  was  in  ad- 
vance of  having  the  all-important  aid  of  clover,  as  green  manure,  still 
wheat  on  fallow  always  produced  much  better  than  would  the  same  land  if 
in  wheat  after  corn,  as  usual.  My  first  largely  increased  crop  of  wheat 
10* 


186  CROPS   OF   COGGINS   POINT   FARM. 

(in  1822\  -was  in  part  owing  to  the  fallow  process  on  ■  large  space.  But 
as  the  same  land  had  been  then  marled,  and  this  was  its  first  wheat  crop 
after  the  marling.  I  incorrectly  ascribed  all  the  great  improvement  of  produc- 
tion to  the  new  fertility  cause!  by  marling.  In  after  time,  when  the  same 
field  yielded  a  much  lighter  crop  of  wheat,  following  corn,  there  was  great 
disappointment,  for  the  supposed  diminished  fertility.  In  truth,  there  was 
great  improvement  of  fertility  at  first,  from  marling,  and  no  diminution 
afterwards.  But  a  still  greater  measure  of  temporary  production  was 
superadded  at  first  by  the  fallow  preparation — which  increase  ceased  when 
this  kind  of  preparation  was  not  used.  So  generally  now  is  known  this 
superiority  of  the  yield  of  fallow  wheat,  that  no  farmer  could  be  deceived 
in  this  respect.  Nevertheless,  not  only  was  I  so  deceived  formerly,  in  the 
beginning  and  partial  use  of  summer  fallow,  but  most  other  persons  were 
as  ill-informed.  For  nearly  all  other  improving  farmers,  in  addition  to 
whatever  means  of  fertilization  they  employed,  soon  also  began  to  fallow 
for  wheat,  and  on  clover,  if  the  land  had  been  enabled  to  bring  clover. 
The  first  and  all  succeeding  crops  so  prepared  for,  would  be  more  than 
double  any  made  previously  on  the  same  land,  in  the  formerly  universal 
course,  after  corn.  And  this  more  than  doubled  production  of  the  next 
succeeding  crop,  when  published,  was  supposed  by  all  to  be  the  result  of  a 
doubled  degree  of  fertility  so  quickly  induced.  Several  such  reports  ap- 
peared from  different  and  excellent  improving  farmers  in  the  '-Farmers' 
Register;"  and  great  as  were  the  actual  measures  of  new  fertility  in  all 
these  cases,  it  is  certain  that  the  writers  of  these  reports,  as  well  as  the 
readers,  were  deceived  by  the  then  new  and  little  known  peculiar  benefits 
of  the,  summer  fallow  preparation  for  wheat — and  consequently  ascribing 
less  benefit  to  the  mode  of  tillage,  and  more  to  the  newly  created  fertility 
of  the  field,  than  was  proper.  It  was  not  until  about  1835  that  fallow  pre- 
paration had  become  my  annual  procedure,  even  to  small  extent ;  nor  un- 
til 1830  that  it  was  made  a  regular  part  of  the  rotation,  extending  to  one- 
fifth  of  the  farm  each  year.  Afterwards,  as  will  be  seen,  the  crops  of  wheat 
were  greatly  and  permanently  increased  over  the  general  former  products ; 
they  then  having  nil  the  before  produced  fertility,  caused  by  marling,  to- 
gether with  the  surface  under  wheat  being  extended  to  two-fifths  of  the 
land,  and  half  of  that  quantity  of  fallow  preparation,  and  with  clover,  so 
far  as  this  manuring  crop  could  be  made  to  grow. 

,  13.027  lbs.  of  cotton,  net  weight  as  sold,  or  170  lbs.  to  the  acre. 

■  1836.  the  wheat  crop  nearly  destroyed  by  rust,  as  was  general  through 
eastern  Virginia. 

t  Corn  crop  of  1838  and  wheat  crop  of  1S30  very  much  lessened  by  the 
ravages  of  the  chinch-bug. 

c  c  On  26  of  these  acres  the  marling  was  a  second  application. 

eThe  root  crops  (turnips  and  beets ),  and  pumpkins  and  cymlings,  occu- 
pied part  of  the  most  highly  enriched  land — all  consumed  on  the  farm,  and 
products  not  estimated. 

s  s  s  Second  dressings  of  marl,  at  about  250  bushels  the  acre :  applied 
where  first  dressings  had  been  lightest,  or  where  more  seemed  to  be  wanting. 

v  Severe  drought  in  1845  cut  short  the  corn  crop. 

•  Remarkable  wet  time  for  harvest  in  1846,  and  much  loss  of  wheat. 

ii  In  1847,  much  Hessian  fly  in  wheat. 

x  In  1849,  three  freezing  nights  in  April  cut  down  all  the  forward  wheat. 

In  1844,  my  residence  and  labours  were  removed  to  the  farm, 
Murlbcurne,  iu  Hanover,  which  had  been  recently  bought,  and 


FARMING  ON   MARLBOURNE.  187 

■which  I  then  began  to  marl,  and  to  cultivate.  I  here  brought  to 
bear  much  experience,  and  also  judgment,  both  of  which  had  been 
wanting  to  my  first  marling  labours,  and  therefore  I  now  had  more 
speedy  and  complete  success.  Still  there  were  important  counter- 
vailing obstacles,  in  the  great  existing  differences  of  the  soil  and 
level  of  my  new  farm,  from  the  hilly  lands  on  which  my  earlier 
labours  had  been  bestowed.  Owing  to  my  want  of  knowing  the 
peculiar  requisitions  for  land  entirely  new  to  me,  each  field  had 
to  pass  once  at  least  through  its  course  of  culture,  before  I  learned, 
from  my  errors,  what  should  be  its  proper  tillage  and  management. 
The  arable  land  of  Marlbourne,  about  750  acres,  was  nearly  all  of 
Pamuukcy  fiats  of  high  level,  or  "second  low-grounds."  The 
surface  generally  is  so  level  and  also  so  much  of  it  in  shallow 
basin-shaped  depressions,  as  to  need  much  labour  and  judgment  in 
draining;  the  soils  of  all  shades  of  texture  between  very  sandy 
and  light,  and  very  stiff  and  intractable,  under  tillage.  The  origi- 
nal qualities  had  varied  between  rich  and  less  than  medium  fertility. 
The  cultivation  had  been  very  exhausting ;  all  the  land  (not  too 
wet  to  cultivate),  had  been  greatly  reduced ;  and  much  of  it  was 
extremely  poor.  About  80  acres,  in  many  separated  spots,  of 
cleared  laud,  had  been  the  bottoms  of  formerly  existing  ponds. 
These  "black-lands"  only  still  were  rich,  and  also  of  very  stiff  soil. 
Most  of  the  other  clay  lands  were  the  poorest  of  the  farm,  and 
extremely  poor.  The  sandy  soils  all  bore  sorrel,  thus  giving  evi- 
dence of  their  then  acid  condition.  About  60  acres  had  been 
marled,  but  quite  insufficiently,  and  required  full  as  much  more  marl 
as  had  been  laid  on.  All  the  remaining  land  had  to  be  marled  for 
the  first  time.  Of  the  procedure  and  the  results,  this  occasion  per- 
mits only  the  general  statement  wdiich  will  follow,  of  the  quantities 
of  marl  carried  out  (obtained  from  an  adjacent  farm),  and  the  crops 
made.  It  is  understood  that  no  previous  crop  of  wheat,  made  on 
the  farm  for  many  years  before  my  occupancy,  had  reached  the 
amount  of  1000  bushels;  and  even  my  first  crop  (reaped  in  the 
second  year)  was  increased  by  being  partly  on  land  I  had  marled, 
and  also  by  having  an  over-proportion  of  the  richest  ground,  taken 
in  detached  spots. 


188 


CHOPS   OF   MARLBOURXE. 


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TROFITS   OP   MARLING.  189 

[1832.]  "With  all  the  increase  of  products  that  I  have  ascribed 
to  marling,  the  heaviest  amounts  stated  may  appear  inconsiderable 
to  farmers  who  till  soils  more  favoured  by  nature.  Corn  yielding 
twenty-five  or  thirty  bushels  to  the  acre,  is  doubled  by  many  natural 
soils  in  the  western  states;  and  ten  or  twelve  bushels  of  wheat 
(following  corn)  will  still  iess  compare  with  the  product  of  the 
best  lime-stone  clay  land.  The  cultivators  of  our  poor  region,  how- 
ever, know  that  such  products,  without  any  future  increase,  would 
be  a  prodigious  addition  to  their  present  gains.  Still  it  is  doubtful 
whether  these  rewards  are  sufficiently  high  to  tempt  many  of  my 
countrymen  speedily  to  accept  them.  The  opinions  of  many 
farmers  have  been  so  long  fixed,  and  their  habits  are  so  uniform 
and  unvarying,  that  it  is  difficult  to  excite  them  to  adopt  any  new 
plan  of  improvement,  except  by  promises  of  profits  so  great  that  an 
uncommon  share  of  credulity  would  be  necessary  to  expect  their 
fulfilment.  The  net  profits  of  marling,  if  estimated  at  twenty  or 
even  fifty  per  cent,  per  annum,  on  the  expense,  for  ever — -or  the 
assurance,  by  good  evidence,  of  doubling  the  crops  of  a  farm  in  ten 
years  or  less — will  scarcely  attract  the  attention  of  those  who  would 
embrace,  without  any  scrutiny,  the  most  absurd  plan  that  promised 
five  times  as  much.  Hall's  scheme  for  cultivating  corn  was  a 
stimulus  exactly  suited  to  their  lethargic  state ;  and  that  impudent 
Irish  impostor  found  many  steady  old-fashioned  farmers  who  had 
always  eschewed  experiments,  aucl  held  "book-farming"  in  utter  con- 
tempt, willing  to  pay  for  his  pretended  patent-right  and  directions 
for  making  five  hundred  barrels  of  corn  without  ploughing,  and  with 
the  hand  labour  of  two  men  only. 

The  products  and  profits  derived  from  the  use  of  marl,  as  pre- 
sented in  the  preceding  pages,  considerable  as  they  are,  have  been 
kept  down,  or  lessened  in  amount,  by  my  then  want  of  experience, 
and  ignorance  of  the  danger  of  injudicious  applications.  My  errors 
may  at  least  enable  others  to  avoid  similar  losses,  and  thereby  to 
reach  equal  profits  with  half  the  expense  of  time  and  labour.  But 
arc  we  to  consider  even  the  greatest  known  increase  of  product  that 
has  been  yet  gained,  in  a  few  years  after  marling,  as  showing  the 
full  amount  of  improvement  and  profit  to  be  derived  ?  Certainly 
not;  and  if  we  may  venture  to  leave  the  sure  ground  of  practical 
experience,  and  look  forward  to  what  is  promised  by  the  theory  of 
the  operation  of  calcareous  manures,  we  must  anticipate  future 
crops  far  exceeding  what  have  yet  been  obtained.  To  this,  the  ready 
objection  may  be  opposed,  that  the  sandiness  of  the  greater  part  of 
our  lands  will  always  prevent  their  being  raised  to  a  high  state  of 
productiveness — and,  particularly,  that  no  care  or  improvement 
can  make  heavy  crops  of  wheat  on  such  soils.  This  very  general 
opinion  is  far  from  being  correct;  and  as  the  error  is  important,  it 


190  VALUE   OF    SANDY   SOIL.?. 

may  be  useful  to  offer  some  evidence  in  support  of  the  great  value 
to  which  sandy  soils  may  arrive. 

T\*e  are  so  accustomed  to  find  sandy  soils  poor,  that  it  is  difficult 
for  us  to  conuect  with  them  the  idea  of  fertility,  and  still  less  of 
durability.  Yet  British  agriculturists,  who  were  acquainted  with 
clays  and  clay  loams  of  as  great  value,  and  as  well  managed  tu 
tillage,  as  any  in  the  world,  speak  in  still  higher  terms  of  certain 
soils  which  are  even  more  sandy  than  most  of  ours.  For  example 
— "  Rich  sandy  soils,  however,"  says  Sir  John  Sinclair,  "  such  as 
those  of  Frodsham  in  Cheshire,  are  invaluable.  They  are  cultivated 
at  a  moderate  expense ;  and  at  all  times  have  a  dry  soundness, 
accompanied  by  moisture,  which  secures  exellent  crops,  even  in  the 
driest  summers.'"*  Robert  Brown  (one  of  the  very  few  who  have 
deserved  the  character  of  being  both  able  writers  and  successful 
practical  cultivators)  says — "  Perhaps  a  true  sandy  loam,  incumbent 
on  a  sound  sub-soil,  is  the  most  valuable  of  all  soils,  "f  Arthur 
Young,  when  describing  the  soils  of  France,  in  his  agricultural 
survey  of  that  country,  in  several  places  speaks  in  the  highest 
terms  of  different  bodies  of  light  or  sandy  soils,  of  which  the 
following  example,  of  the  extensive  district  which  he  calls  the  plain 
of  the  G-aronne,  will  be  enough  to  quote :  "  It  is  entered  about 
Creisensac,  and  improves  all  the  way  to  3Iontauban  and  Toulouse, 
where  it  is  one  of  the  finest  bodies  of  fertile  soil  that  can  anywhere 

be  seen." "  Through  all  this  plain,  wherever  the  soil  is  found 

excellent,  it  consists  usually  of  a  deep  mellow  friable  sandy  loam, 
with  moisture  sufficient  for  anything;  much  of  it  is  calcareous. "? 
The  soil  of  Belgium,  so  celebrated  for  its  high  improvement  and 
remarkable  productiveness,  is  mostly  sandy.  The  author  last 
quoted,  in  another  work  describes  a  body  of  land  in  the  county  of 
Norfolk,    as  "  one  of  the  finest  tracts    that    is    anywhere    to    be 

seen" "a    fine,  deep,  mellow,   putrid    sandy    loam,    adhesive 

enough  to  fear  no  drought,  and  friable  enough  to  strain  off  super- 
fluous moisture,  so  that  all  seasons  suit  it;  from  texture  free  to 
work,  and  from  chemical  qualities  sure  to  produce  in  luxuriance 
whatever  the  industry  of  man  commits  to  its  friendly  bosom. "§ 
Mr.  Coke,  the  great  Norfolk  farmer,  made  on  the  average  24  bushels 
of  wheat  to  the  acre,  on  an  estate  of  as  sandy  soil  as  our  South- 
ampton (where  probably  a  general  average  of  two  bushels  could 
not  be  obtained,  if  general  wheat  culture  were  attempted) — and 
many  other  farms  in  Norfolk  yielded  much  better  wheat  than  3Ir. 
Coke's  in  1804,  when  Young's  survey  was  made.     Several  farms 

*  Code  of  Agriculture,  p.  12. 

f  Browns  Treatise  on  Agriculture,  p.   218,  of  "  Agriculture"'  in  Edin. 
Ency. 

|  Young's  Tour  in  France. 

\  Young's  Survey  of  Norfolk,  p.  4. 


SHALLOW  AND   POOR   SOILS.  191 

averaged  30  bushels,  and  one  of  40  is  stated;  and  the  general  ave- 
rage of  the  county  was  '2  1  bushels.*  Yet  the  county  of  Norfolk  was 
formerly  pronounced  by  Charles  II.  to  be  only  fit  "  to  cut  up  into 
strips,  to  make  roads  of  for  the  remainder  of  the  kingdom" — and 
that  sportive  description  expressed  strongly  the  sandy  nature  of  the 
soil,  as  well  as  its  then  state  of  poverty  and  utter  worthlcssness. 

Because  certain  qualities  of  poor  clay  soils  (particularly  their 
absorbent  power)  make  them  better  than  poor  sands  for  producing 
wheat,  we  most  strangely  attach  a  value  to  the  stiffness  and  in- 
tractability of  the  former.  Yet  if  all  the  absorbent  quality  and 
productive  power  of  clay  could  be  given  to  sand,  surely  the  latter 
would  be  the  more  valuable  in  proportion  to  its  being  friable  and 
easy  to  cultivate.  The  causes  of  all  the  valuable  qualities  and  pro- 
ductive power  of  the  rich  sands  that  have  been  referred  to,  are 
only  calcareous  and  putrescent  manures,  and  depth  of  soil ;  and  if 
the  same  means  can  be  used,  our  now  poor  sands  may  also  be  made 
as  productive  and  valuable.  I  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  the  most 
highly  improved  sandy  soils  can  produce  as  much  wheat  as  the  best 
clay  soils ;  but  they  will  not  fall  so  far  short  as  to  prevent  their 
being  the  more  valuable  lands,  for  wheat  as  well  as  other  crops,  on 
account  of  their  being  more  easily  cultivated,  and  less  liable  to  suffer 
from  bad  seasons,  or  bad  management. 

The  greatest  objection  to  the  poor  sandy  lands  of  lower  Virginia,  as 
subjects  for  improvement  by  calcareous  manures,  is  not  their  excess 
of  sand,  nor  yet  their  poverty — great  as  may  be  both  these  dis- 
advantages— but  it  is  the  shalloivness  of  the  poor  and  sandy  soil. 
The  natural  soil  of  a  large  portion  of  these  lands,  before  cultivation, 
is  not  more  than  from  one  to  two  inches  deep,  lying  on  a  barren 
sub-soil  of  sand.  Now  suppose  this  very  shallow  soil  to  be  doubled 
or  even  tripled  in  fertility  by  marling,  or  a  productive  power  of  G 
or  9  bushels  of  corn  be  raised  to  18  bushels,  still  it  would  be  but 
mean  laud.  And  a  long  succession  of  annual  vegetable  covers  to 
be  left  on  the  land,  or  a  great  quantity  of  prepared  putrescent 
manure  furnished  at  once,  would  be  required  to  make  such  soil  both 
rich  and  deep.  If  the  original  soil  had  been  ten  inches  deep,  the 
fertility  before  marling  might  have  been  but  little  more  than  on  the 
shallowest  soil.  But  heavy  marling  and  deep  and  good  tillage 
would  have  served  speedily  to  make  a  rich  and  productive  soil, 
approaching  in  value  to  those  rich  sands  of  Europe  mentioned 
above. 

Another  large  class  of  the  poor  lands  of  lower  Virginia  are  the 
close  stiff  clays,  of  which  the  soil  is  still  more  shallow  than  the   \ 
sands.     Such  land  was  described  at  page  124  and  formed  the  sub- 
jects of  experiments  5,  0,  and  7.  This  is  the  very  worst  soil  known 

*  Young's  Survey  of  Norfolk,  p.  300  to  304. 


192  HATES    OF   INCREASE   OF   MARLED   CT. 

before  being  marled,  and  also  the  most  worthless  of  all  known 
marled  soils.  And  yet  a  three-fold  product  has  been  usually  ob- 
tained on  these  lands  by  marling  alone,  within  four  or  at  most  eight 
years  after  the  application  of  marl.  Still,  this  land,  as  well  as  the 
most  sandy,  wants  only  greater  depth  of  soil  and  abundance  of 
vegetable  matter,  to  become  fertile  and  valuable. 

"While  then  calcareous  manures  may  be  counted  on  to  produce 
great  improvement  on  all  soils  not  naturally  provided  with  them — 
and  to  show  a  greater  jjcrcentaije  of  increase  on  the  worst  than  on 
better  soils,  and  a  remunerating  profit  on  all  ( — except  those  few 
already  calcareous — )  still,  it  will  be  far  more  profitable  to  marl 
some  soils  than  others.  Dung,  or  other  alimentary  manure  in  the 
best  condition  for  use,  increases  vegetation  nearly  in  proportion  to 
the  quantity  of  the  manure,  and  without  regard  or  proportion  to  the 
previous  product  of  the  soil.  Thus,  a  wasteful  application  of  dung 
might,  in  a  single  year,  increase  the  production  of  an  acre  of  very 
poor  land,  from  5  bushels  to  50  bushels  of  corn.  But  calcareous 
manures  improve  production  somewhat  in  proportion  to  the  previous 
power  of  the  soil ;  and  if  the  original  product  was  very  low,  the 
addition  thereto  of  100  or  even  200  per  cent.,  made  on  the  first 
crops  after  marling,  will  show  still  but  a  poor  product.  These  re- 
remarks  and  illustrations  are  designed  for  the  instruction  of  those 
beginners  who  deem  it  important  to  learn  on  what  kinds  of  soil  to 
apply  their  marl.  In  more  general  terms  I  would  answer,  "  apply 
it  to  all  soils  not  already  calcareous ;"  for  however  different  may  be 
the  measure  of  profit,  I  have  never  known  marl  applied  unprofi: 
in  regard  to  place,  if  applied  judiciously  in  manner.  Of  course  I 
refer  to  soils  having  some  previous  productive  power  and  some 
tenacity;  and  not  to  such  naked  sands,  drifting  with  the  winds, 
as  are  seen  in  parts  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  EXTENT  OF  DURATION  OF  THE  EFFECTS  OF  CALCAREOUS 
MANURES. 

Proposition  5 — continued. 

In  advance  of  the  discussion  of  the  general  question  of  tl. 
manency  of  calcareous  manures,  I  will  here  state  the  facts  in  regard 
to  duration  of  effects  observed  and  known  of  my  own  oldest  prac- 
tice.    This  extent  of  experience  is  indeed  much  too  short  to  be 
considered  as  the  slightest  evidence  cf  such  permanency  of  effect  as 


CONTINUED   EFFECTS   OF   MARL.  193 

I  ascribe  to,  and  shall  claim  for,  calcareous  manures;  nor  arc  these 
facts  presented  for  that  purpose.  Still,  even  this  comparatively  short 
experience  shows  an  undiminished  duration  of  benefit  from  call- 
ing, which  is  long  compared  to  that  of  any  other  manuring.  And, 
therefore,  for  practical  instruction,  these  and  other  like  facts,  if 
brought  from  other  sources,  may  be  of  more  use  than  any  reason- 
ing upon  theoretical  grounds,  though  going  to  prove  a  degree  of 
duration  of  calcareous  manures  immeasurably  greater  than  any  ex- 
perience of  man. 

At  this  time  of  my  writing  (1852),  thirty-four  years  have 
passed  since  my  first  application  of  marl  (in  January  1818),  and 
which  was  the  beginning  of  regular  and  continued  labours  in  the 
same  way.  The  dressings  given  in  1818,  and  also  in  1819,  were 
all  very  light ;  and  were  soon  inferred  to  be  insufficient,  even  for 
the  immediate  wants  of  the  land.  Therefore,  more  marl  was  added 
to  all  these  places,  with  the  next  succeeding  tillage  crop.  This 
early  repetition  prevented  any  observation  of  the  oldest  dressings, 
as  to  their  separate  and  continued  effects.  In  1820,  my  error  as 
to  quantity  was  in  the  opposite  extreme,  the  marl  being  then  laid 
on  so  heavily  as  to  produce  injury  to  the  crops,  after  some  years. 
For  these  different  reasons,  the  marling  for  the  corn  of  1821  is  the 
oldest  of  my  applications  which  was  both  heavy  enough,  and  not 
so  excessive  as  to  cause  any  subsequent  abatement  (by  disease)  of 
the  increase  of  crops  produced  in  the  first  few  years.  No  second 
marling  has  there  been  given.  The  crops  were  increased  always 
in  the  first  year  after  the  marling ;  and  continued  to  show  more  and 
more  increase  for  ten  or  more  years  afterwards.  Nor  has  there 
been  any  known  diminution  of  the  highest  productive  power  thus 
obtained,  to  this  time,  in  thirty-one  years  of  tillage  and  rest,  ac- 
cording to  the  rotations  in  use,  since  the  first  marling.  These  re- 
marks apply  especially  and  strictly  to  the  eleven  acres  of  newly 
cleared  (and  then  poor  and  acid)  land,  forming  the  subject  of  ex- 
periment 1  (page  117  of  this  edition);  and  the  like  results, 
though  for  different  shorter  times,  have  been  experienced  on  the 
adjoining  and  similar  land,  subsequently  cleared  and  marled, 
to  the  amount  of  eighty  or  ninety  acres.  Of  nearly  all  the  other 
lands,  also  marled,  on  Coggins  farm,  for  crops  of  1821,  or  soon 
after,  of  different  soils  and  conditions,  the  same  statements  should 
be  made,  in  respect  to  there  having  been  no  known  abatement  of 
the  early  increase  of  crops.  To  this  general  rule  there  are  two 
limited  exceptions,  apparent  or  real.  The  first  has  just  been  ad- 
verted to,  and  was  before  described  at  length  (p.  155).  This  injury, 
by  disease,  however  great,  was  not  at  all  a  diminution  of  effect  of 
the  marl,  but  the  result  of  excess  of  quantity,  and  of  improper 
effect.  With  time,  and  supplying  vegetable  matter  in  proportion, 
17 


194  CONTINUED   EFFECTS   OF   MARL. 

this  excess  of  marl  has  been  moderated  in  effect ;  and  those  appli- 
cations now,  as  the  others,  show  continuing  good  effects  only.  The 
other  exception,  though  not  yet  well  understood,  seems  more  real. 
It  applies  only  to  some  small  spaces  of  land,  sometimes  slightly 
oozy,  on  clay  sub-soil.  The  surface  of  these  spots  is  generally  slop- 
ing, though,  in  some  cases,  too  level  to  lose  much  soil  by  washing 
rains.  The  soil  is  shallow,  and  receives  the  excess  of  nitrating  rain- 
water from  the  more  level  and  higher  land,  in  wet  seasons,  and 
which  is  discharged  over  its  surface,  when  most  abundant ;  or  other- 
wise beneath  the  shallow  soil,  to  the  lower  grounds,  or  to  streams. 
Such  spots,  being  too  wet  only  in  winter  and  spring,  and  of  small 
extent,  were  either  not  drained  at  all,  or,  where  covered  drains  had 
been  made  and  had  failed,  they  were  not  renewed.  In  land  of 
this  kind,  it  seems  as  if  the  oozing  water  dissolves  and  carries  off 
the  organic  and  nutritive  ingredients  of  the  soil.  All  soil  of  this 
character,  on  the  farm  named,  together  makes  but  some  ten  or 
twelve  acres,  in  many  small,  irregular-shaped  spots,  and  always  of 
small  value  for  tillage,  which  circumstances  caused  their  being  neg- 
lected. In  all  such  cases,  and  even  after  being  marled,  and  an 
early  improvement  being  thereby  produced,  these  spots  have  become 
more  poor,  and  the  soil  itself  seeming  to  diminish  in  quantity,  as 
if  lost  by  being  washed  away,  which,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
Previous  and  proper  drainage  would,  no  doubt,  have  prevented  the 
existence  of  this  only  known  real  exception  to  the  continued  and 
unabated  good  effect  of  marling.  It  is  stated  here  thus  particularly, 
not  only  as  due  to  truth,  but  also  because  the  facts  will  be  again 
referred  to,  in  another  connexion. 

It  should  be  observed,  as  to  my  general  practice,  and  in  regard 
to  all  land  referred  to  on  which  no  repetition  of  the  first  marling 
of  early  date  has  been  made,  or  has  been  needed — and  where  no 
abatement  of  the  highest  productive  power  has  occurred — that  the 
following  conditions  existed,  and  were  (as  I  suppose)  essential  for 
the  results  stated :  The  marling  had  been  heavy  (perhaps  furnish- 
ing 1  $  to  2  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime  to  the  tilled  layer  of  soil), 
and  the  land  subsequently  kept  under  sufficiently  mild  cropping 
and  treatment,  which  allowed  it  to  be  supplied,  through  its  own 
growth  of  grass,  and  by  help  of  atmospheric  influences,  with  more 
organic  or  nutritive  matter  than  the  cultivated  crops  took  away. 
On  some  marled  land,  on  other  farms,  where  the  general  course  of 
cultivation  was  exhausting,  and  not  compensated  by  enough  of 
natural  or  other  supplies  of  vegetable  and  alimentary  matter,  the 
early  increase  of  product  has  been  subsequently  lowered.  In  some 
such  cases,  within  my  observation,  of  most  scourging  tillage,  in 
eight  or  ten  years  after  marling,  and  after  excellent  early  effects, 
the  land  was  reduced  to  as  low  a  state  as  before  being  marled. 


RE-MARLINGS.  195 

Such  results,  to  this  extent,  have  occurred  only  where  the  temporary 
occupants  of  the  land  thought  they  had  no  interest  in  preserving 
fertility  for  future  use,  or  otherwise  were  grossly  ignorant  or  neg- 
lectful of  their  own  interests. 

But  though  the  first  dressing  of  marl  being  heavy,  and  not  sub- 
sequently repeated,  are  conditions  best  suited  for  showing  the  long 
duration  of  effects,  that  course  is  not  economical  or  proper  in  any 
other  respect.  When  a  heavy  dressing  is  applied  at  once,  perhaps 
half  the  amount  (even  if  not  afterwards  hurtful  by  its  excess)  is 
superfluous,  and  lies  useless  and  as  dead  capital  for  ten  or  twenty 
years.  It  would  bo  far  cheaper,  and  more  conformable  to  tho 
theoretical  views  of  the  action  of  calcareous  manures,  if  half  tho 
quantity  of  such  heavy  first  applications  had  been  withheld  until 
the  addition  was  required  by  the  increased  store  of  organic  matter 
in  the  soil,  and  by  the  prospective  continued  supply,  which  would 
call  for  more  calcareous  matter,  for  the  purpose  of  combining  with 
what  otherwise  would  be  a  useless  and  wasting  excess  of  vegetable 
or  other  organic  matter. 

Except  where  the  first  dressing  was  very  light,  and  therefore  was 
very  soon  after  added  to,  there  were  no  re-marlings  on  the  Coggins 
farm  until  about  1843.  The  want  of  more  calcareous  matter  then 
seemed  to  be  indicated  on  parts  of  the  farm,  which  either  had  at 
first  been  the  least  heavily  covered,  or  otherwise  had  since  received 
the  most  putrescent  manure  from  the  stock  pens,  or  other  supplies 
of  vegetable  matter.  These  indications  were  understood  when, 
after  a  long  time,  scattering  plants  of  sorrel  began  to  reappear ; 
when  there  was  evidence  of  great  increase  of  organic  matter  in  the 
soil  shown  by  the  larger  products  of  grain ;  and  never  by  any  de- 
crease of  production,  except  of  clover  alone.  Believing  that  it  was 
time  for  re-marling  to  be  beneficial,  that  operation  was  then  begun, 
and  has  been  continued  annually  since  on  the  parts  of  the  land 
supposed  to  require  it,  on  each  field,  preceding  its  next  corn  crop. 
The  soils  so  re-marled,  of  course,  were  neutral  before  (from  tho 
first  marling) ;  or,  at  most,  had  very  little  excess  of  newly-formed 
acid ;  and,  of  course,  no  perceptible  or  manifest  benefit  from  the 
rc-marling  was  expected,  or  has  been  found,  in  the  next  succeeding 
grain  crops. 

In  these  cases,  the  want  of  additional  calcareous  matter  was  not 
caused  by  the  waste  or  disappearance  of  the  first  supply ;  but  be- 
cause the  first  supply,  still  remaining  with  very  slight  diminution 
of  quantity,  and  none  of  effect,  had  served  so  to  increase  the  organic 
matter  of  the  soil,  that  a  larger  quantity  of  calcareous  matter  could 
be  put  to  use  and  profit.  This  is  altogether  different  from  the 
supposed  exhaustion,  by  use  and  by  waste,  of  the  first  supply  of 
calcareous  matter,  as  occurs  of  putrescent  manure,  and  the  conse- 
quent necessity  for  replacing  it  by  a  new  supply.     And  this  latter 


196  QUESTION   OF  DURATION   OF   CALXIXG. 

is  the  cause  requiring  second  and  repeated  applications  of  lime  or 
marl,  as  generally  and  erroneously  supposed  to  operate,  not  only 
by  the  ignorant,  but  by  the  scientific  authorities  whose  opinions  I 
shall  presently  notice,  and  endeavour  to  controvert. 

So  far,  I  have  merely  aimed  to  show,  by  facts  and  from  experi- 
ence, that  the  increased  productiveness  of  soils,  induced  by  calca- 
reous manures,  has  not  ceased,  nor,  in  general,  been  at  all  diminished 
within  such  short  time  of  experience  as  belongs  to  the  agriculture 
of  this  country,  and  of  which  only  we  can  know  and  estimate  all 
the  conditions  and  circumstances.  But,  however  important  may 
be  the  value  of  these  evidences  of  durable  effect,  bearing  on  the 
question  of  the  profit  of  practical  operations,  they  go  but  little  way 
towards  fixing  the  limit  of  duration,  and  of  the  undiminished  ope- 
ration of  calcareous  manures. 

In  the  first  sketch  of  this  essay,  published  in  1821,  as  well  as  in 
all  the  subsequent  editions,  I  asserted  and  argued  for  the  absolute 
permanency  of  calcareous  earth,  acting  as  manure  in  soil;  and  the 
remaining  in  the  soil  of  the  lime,  with  but  very  little  appreciable 
diminution  of  its  quantity,  through  all  its  chemical  changes  and 
different  successive  combinations.  In  this  opinion  I  have  found 
myself  opposed  to  nearly  if  not  quite  all  known  authorities,  whether 
of  scientific  writers,  or  the  practical  European  cultivators  whose 
reported  practices  and  results  have  been  quoted  as  evidence.  Under 
such  circumstances,  it  was  proper  that  my  grounds  should  be  care- 
fully reconsidered,  in  connexion  with  the  opposing  reasoning.  This 
has  been  done  ;  and  while  deeming  it  proper  to  yield  something  of 
the  breadth  of  my  previous  position  to  newer  and  better  information, 
and  while  ready  to  admit  the  previous  errors,  ^and  their  recent  cor- 
i  rection,  I  have  still  to  maintain  my  former  opinion  in  its  most 
important  points.  And,  without  exception,  I  deny  the  counter 
opinions,  either  asserted  by  authors  of  high  reputation,  or  neces- 
sary deductions  from  their  assertions,  viz.  :  that  calcareous  manures, 
though  long  continuing  in  soils,  still  are  liable  to  be  nearly  exhausted 
by  waste  and  use  in  terms  of  say  twenty  or  thirty  years ;  and  that 
they  then  require  being  replaced,  and  may  be  so  repeated,  profitably, 
and  without  limitation  of  the  number. 

No  calcareous  manurings  made  by  man  can  possibly  be  old  enough, 
or  capable  of  being  clearly  enough  traced  through  their  actual  pro- 
gress, to  afford  evidence  of  even  very  long  duration,  much  less  en- 
tire permanency  of  effect.  But,  however  weak  for  this  purpose, 
such  facts,  of  long  abiding  effects,  will  at  least  serve  to  rebut  the 
assertions  of  the  much  earlier  and  necessary  cessation  of  all  the 
effects  of  lime.  For  such  opposition  even  my  own  experience  of  un- 
'  abated  effects,  from  applications  not  repeated,  now  extends  to  thirty  - 
■  one  years.  Another  much  older  application  (stated  at  page  114), 
after  long  neglect,  and  under  the  worst  treatment  for  its  operation. 


BRITISII   OriNIONS   OP   LIMING.  197 

showed  visible  effects  at  the  end  of  sixty  years.     Lord  Karnes  men-  \ 
tions  a  particular  case  of  the   continued  beneficial  effects  of  an  ap-    ] 
plication  of  calcai*eous  manure  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  years    ;' 
(ticntleman  Farmer,  p.  266,  Edin.  Ed.),  and  even  Professor  John- 
ston, whose  reasoning  I  shall  have  mainly  to  oppose,  quotes,  with 
apparent  assent,  the  opinion  of  "an  intelligent  and  experienced 
farmer,"  that  certain   lauds  in  Scotland  "would  never  forget  an    \ 
application  of  forty  to  sixty  bushels  of  lime  to  the  acre."  ' 

I  shall  take  from  the  Lectures  of  Professor  Johnston,  the  argu- 
ment in  support  of  the  temporary  continuance  and  operation  of 
lime  in  soils,  and  its  final  entire  loss  and  disappearance.  No  more 
able  advocate  of  the  opinions  I  shall  oppose,  nor  one  of  higher  au- 
thority, could  be  presented.  His  observations  on  lime  as  manure 
are  the  most  recent,  and  fullest  of  any  known ;  and  in  most  of  the 
points,  his  opinions  command  my  approval.  In  regard  to  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  his  views  are  as  follows  : — 

"A  certain  proportion  of  lime,"  says  this  author,  "is  indispensable 
in  our  climate  to  the  production  of  the  greatest  possible  fertility. 
Let  us  suppose  a  soil  to  be  wholly  destitute  of  lime — the  first  step 
of  the  improver  would  be  to  add  this  indispensable  proportion. 
This  would  necessarily  be  a  large  quantity ;  and  therefore,  to  land 
limed  for  the  first  time,  theory  indicates  the  propriety  of  giving  a 
large  dose.  Every  year,  however,  a  certain  variable  proportion  of 
the  lime  is  removed  from  the  soil  by  natural  causes.  The  effect  of 
the  removal  in  a  few  years  becomes  sensibly  apparent  in  the  di- 
minished productiveness  of  the  land.  After  a  lapse  of  five  or  six 
years,  during  which  it  has  been  gradually  mixing  with  the  soil, 
the  beneficial  effects  of  the  lime  are  generally  the  most  striking  j 
after  this,  they  gradually  lessen,  till,  at  the  end  of  a  longer  or  short- 
er period,  the  land  reverts  to  its  original  condition." (p.  883,  384.) 
He  states  the  usage  in  Roxburgh  (Scotland),  where  most  lands 
are  leased  for  nineteen  or  twenty-one  years.  On  entering  upon  a 
farm,  the  new  tenant  begins  with  applying  240  to  300  bushels  of 
[unslaked]  quick-lime  to  the  acre,  and  continues  equal  progress 
with  his  rotation  of  tillage,  until  all  the  farm  is  limed,  within  the 
time  of  four  or  five  years.  lie  then  continues  to  crop  without  more 
liming  for  fourteen  or  sixteen  years ;  when,  if  he  is  sure  of  remain- 
ing on  his  farm  for  another  lease,  he  begins  to  lime  again,  at  the 
same  rate  as  before.  The  author  speaks  of  no  limit  to  these  re- 
peated heavy  timings ;  and  therefore  it  may  be  fairly  inferred,  that 
he  considers  the  repetitions,  and  the  alternations  of  full  supply  and 
disappearance  of  the  lime,  to  be  indefinite,  or  that  at  no  future  time 
will  such  repetitions  of  liming  cease  to  be  required.  Indeed,  such 
inference  is  unavoidable,  if  his  previous  statement  be  correct,  that 
laud  "  reverts  to  its  original  condition,"  of  being  u  wholly  destitute 
of  lime."  In  such  case,  the  land  certainly  would  as  much  need 
17* 


198  RE-LIMING   IN   BRITAIN. 

lime  again,  as  if  it  had  never  been  applied  before.  Elsewhere  this 
author  speaks  of  twenty  years  as  the  ordinary  duration  of  heavy 
Minings ;  and  that  in  some  cases,  on  grass  land,  the  effect  lasted 
thirty  years,  (p.  396. )  u  A  heavy  marling  or  chalking  in  the  south- 
ern and  midland  counties  of  England  is  said  to  last  for  thirty  years, 
and  the  same  period  is  assigned  for  the  sensible  effects  of  the  ordi- 
nary doses  of  lime-sand  in  Ireland,  and  of  shell-sands  and  marls  in 
several  parts  of  France."  (p.  396,  397.) 

There  is  no  subject  of  practical  agriculture  on  which  it  is  more 
difficult  to  gather  truth  from  the  evidence  of  alleged  facts  than  in 
regard  to  applications  of  calcareous  manures,  made  by  persons  hav- 
ing no  knowledge  or  conception  of  their  true  action.  The  "  facts," 
as  understood  and  reported  by  the  most  truthful  men,  may  be  de- 
ceptious,  and  lead  to  false  conclusions.  There  is  a  general  accord- 
ance in  the  practices  of  the  re-limings,  as  above  described,  and  the 
repetitions  of  my  own  early  marlings — yet  how  different  in  the 
causes  supposed  in  the  two  cases !  The  British  re-lirnings  are  re- 
quired because  the  first  dose  was  supposed  to  be  either  nearly  or 
entirely  gone,  "  and  the  land  had  reverted  to  its  original  condition, 
destitute  of  lime."  In  the  other  case,  the  lime  certainly  still  re- 
mained in  quantity,  and  was  believed  to  be  not  appreciably  lessened ; 
but  more  was  required  to  balance  and  combine  with  the  increased 
organic  matter.  Besides  these  two  causes,  supposed  and  real,  for 
land  needing  re-liming,  it  may  be  wanting,  and  more  than  one  re- 
petition, because  the  previous  dose  was  much  too  small  fur  the 
then  wants  of  the  soil.  And  in  numerous  cases,  when  no  need 
truly  exists  for  more  lime,  and  when  indeed  the  land  has  been 
already  limed  too  heavily  for  its  condition,  but  is  exhausted  of  its 
organic  matter,  and  thereby  impoverished  by  severe  tillage,  still 
more  lime  is  sometimes  ignorantly  added,  and  uselessly  for  its 
resuscitation,  if  not  injuriously.  Yet  all  these  different  cases  of 
proper  and  improper  applications,  would  be  confounded  by  ordi- 
nary report.  And  all  that  we  can  be  sure  of  from  such  facts 
reported  to  and  published  by  Prof.  Johnston,  is  that  re-limiugs,  at 
intervals  of  twenty  or  more  years,  are  common  in  Britain ;  and 
that  sometimes,  or  generally,  they  have  done  good,  and  sometimes 
harm.  The  statements  of  experience  rarely  extend  so  far  as  to 
include  the  third  or  fourth  application.  When  these  shall  be 
known,  I  predict  that  there  will  be  found  many  cases  in  which  the 
last  application  is  in  excess,  and  will  do  more  harm  than  good. 
Yet,  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  Prof.  Johnston,  the 
fourth  or  the  hundredth  application,  after  proper  intervals,  would 
be  as  much  needed,  and  therefore  should  be  as  beneficial  as  the 
first. 

So  much  for  the  facts,  and  the  very  imperfect  knowledge  we  can 


SUPPOSED   REMOVAL   OP   LIME   FROM   SOILS. 


199 


liave  of  them.  I  proceed  to  quote  the  author's  explanations  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  infers  that  the  lime  is  lost  to  the  land. 

1.  "A  considerable  quantity  of  lime,"  he  says,  "is  annually 
removed  from  the  soil  by  the  crops  reaped  from  it.  We  have 
already  seen  (Lecture  X.,  §  4,  p.  221)  that  in  a  four-years'  rota- 
tion of  alternate  green  and  corn  crops,  the  quantity  of  lime  contained 
in  the  average  produce  of  good  land  amounts  to  149  lbs.*  This  is 
equal  to  37.5  lbs.  of  quick-lime,  or  G7  lbs.  of  carbonate  of  lime, 
[per  acre]  for  each  year.  The  whole,  however,  is  not  usually  lost 
to  the  laud.  Part,  at  least,  is  restored  in  the  manure,  into  which 
a  large  portion  of  the  produce  is  usually  converted.  Yet  a  con- 
siderable portion  is  always  lost — escaping  chiefly  in  the  liquid 
manure  and  drainings  of  dung-heaps."   (p.  399.) 

Answer. — To  some  extent,  the  loss  of  lime  to  soil,  by  being  ta- 
ken up  into  the  crops,  is  certain  ;  and  I  always  before  admitted  it 
expressly.  But,  on  the  author's  own  showing,  the  quantity  lost  in 
this  manner  is  very  much  smaller  than  would  appear  from  the 
above  statement,  if  received  without  examination.  The  table 
given  previously  in  the  "  Lectures,"  and  referred  to  above,  of  the 
amounts  of  various  inorganic  matters  abstracted  from  the  soil  by 
all  the  crops  of  the  ordinary  Norfolk  rotation,  in  four  years,  shows 
the  following  amounts  of  lime  so  lost  per  acre: — 


1st  Year,  Turnips  (25  tons  of  roots),  contains  \ 
in  roots  and  leaves  J 
f  Barley  (38  bushels),  grain, 
\  Straw  of  same, 
J  Clover,  1  ton  of  hay, 
\  Rye  grass,  1  ton,  . 
f  Wheat,  (25  bushels),  grain, 
\  Straw  of  same, 


2d  Year, 
3d  Year, 
4th  Year, 


lbs.  Lime.  Lime,  Total 


45.8 

12.9 
63.0 
1G.5 

7.2 


2.1 


1.5 


lbs.  145.4  +3.0  =149 


By  my  thus  presenting  separately  the  respective  quantities  of 
lime  taken  up  by  the  grain  alone,  barley  and  wheat,  which  may  be 
supposed  to  be  mostly  sold  and  removed  from  the  farm,  and  of  the 
turnips,  hay,  and  straw,  which  mostly  are  consumed  on  the  farm, 
and  the  lime  in  them  again  returned  to  the  fields  somewhere  in 
the  manure,  it  appears  that  the  total  loss  of  pure  lime  per  acre,  in 
four  years,  by  removal  from  the  farm  in  the  grain  crops,  is  only 
3.6  lbs. ;  and  annually,  the  average  (0.9  lbs.)  less  tban  1  lb.  per 

*  This  is  stated  as  218  lbs.,  and  the  numbers  following  in  proportion. 
But  it  is  manifestly  by  mistake,  as  is  seen  by  the  table  referred  to  (in 
Lect.  X.).  and  by  which  I  have  corrected  the  sums  above.  The  difference, 
however,  docs  not  materially  affect  the  argument  or  conclusion.  E.  It. 


200  LIME  TAKEN   TJP   BY   CHOPS. 

acre.  And  if  the  lime  abstracted  by  the  retained  straw  and  other 
home-consumed  crops  be  added  as  lost,  unfair  and  incorrect  as 
would  be  that  assumption,  the  whole  annual  loss  would  be  but 
37.25  lbs.  of  lime,  or  say  about  one  bushel  of  quick  and  slaked  lime. 
If  then,  300  bushels  of  quick-lime  had  been  applied,  or  as  much 
lime  in  marl,  it  would  require  the  total  removal  of  300  successive 
crops  (and  as  heavy  crops  as  those  above  stated)  to  take  away 
the  lime  applied.  If  considering  only  the  loss  of  lime  in  the 
grain,  that  annual  waste,  of  less  than  a  pound  per  acre,  would  re- 
quire 11,175  successive  and  as  heavy  crops  for  the  complete  using 
of  the  lime  applied.  In  the  one  case  or  the  other,  these  respect- 
ive quantities  of  lime,  annually  resupplied  to  the  land,  would  be 
enough  to  compensate  for  the  supposed  waste.  If  the  barn-yard 
and  other  organic  manures  of  the  farm  were  all  saved  and  applied 
in  time  regularly  to  every  part  of  the  fields,  then  less  than  a  pound 
of  lime  added  thereto  for  each  acre,  annually,  would  restore  the 
whole  amount  lost  in  the  sold  and  removed  crops.  This  is  very 
much  less  than  I  had  before  supposed,  and  admitted,  from  more 
imperfect  information  than  that  now  furnished  by  Prof.  Johnston. 
Boussingault  reports,  among  other  results  of  his  many  analyses, 
the  mineral,  or  inorganic  parts  composing  the  ashes  of  samples  of 
all  the  crops  of  his  five-field  rotation  at  Bcchelbronn,  which  was 
referred  to  above,  for  a  different  purpose.  The  amount  of  each 
crop  to  the  acre,  throughout  the  rotation,  had  been  ascertained. 
And  having,  by  analysis,  determined  the  constituent  elementary 
parts  of  a  certain  quantity  of  each  product,  calculation  correctly 
showed  the  respective  quantities  of  these  constituent  parts,  in  the 
crops  of  each  year,  and  for  the  whole  rotation  of  five  years.  I 
will  extract  below,  from  two  of  his  tables,  the  statements  of  the 
average  crops  and  these  inorganic  parts,  which  were  taken  up,  and  may 
be  supposed  were  as  much  of  these  matters  as  the  crops  required. 
There  was  an  abundance  of  these  matters  in  the  soil ;  for,  besides 
the  natural  original  supply  in  the  manure  for  the  rotation,  there 
was  furnished,  of  each  inorganic  matter,  more  than  all  that  the 
crops  took  up.  Of  the  lime,  this  supply  in  the  manure  was  more 
than  quadruple  the  quantity  taken  up. 


ALLEGED   REMOVAL   OF  LIME   BY   WATER. 


201 


J>% 

Acids. 

a 

3  -<-> 

ea 

~ 

AVERAGE  CROP  PER  ACRE,  ON 

m  .a 

d 

<u 

"u{ 

Z 

ej 

THE    FIVE    FIELDS    OF    TUE 
ROTATION. 

Lbs. 

Mineral 

stances 
crops. 

A  .2 

o  G 
A   3 

*-a 

3 

a 
3 

a 

0 

o 
0Q 

1.  Potatoes, 

11,733 

lbs.113 

13 

8 

g 

o 

6 

:,s 

0 

2.  Wheat,  lbs.  1281,         1 
4.  Wheat,  lbs.  1521,        / 

2,752 

50 

24 

1 

8 

15 

Wheat  straw,  of  same,  1 
2798,  3450,  / 

6,264 

358 

11 

4 

2 

30 

18 

34 

242 

3.  Clover  hay, 

4,075 

284 

18 

7 

7 

70 

18 

77 

15 

5.  Oats, 

1,232 

30 

6 

1 

Q 

5 

20 

Oat  straw  of  same,  . 

1,050 

00 

11 

2.1 

3 

5 

1* 

17 

24 

Turnips,  secondary  crop,  1 
after  wheat  of  4th  year,  / 

8,754 

50 

3 

5 

1 

5 

o 

19 

3 

According  to  this  statement,  during  the  rotation  of  five  years, 
the  total  amount  of  pure  lime  taken  up  by  the  potato  crop,  and 
three  grain  crops,  was  4  lbs.  The  turnips,  straw,  and  clover,  took 
up  120  lbs.  The  former  quantity,  equal  to  the  yearly  average  of 
0.8  lbs.,  is  all  that  may  be  supposed  to  be  removed  from  the  farm. 
The  latter,  of  24  lbs.  a  year  in  the  turnips,  litter  and  hay,  must  be 
returned  to  the  farm  in  manure.  Both  these  quantities  are  still  less 
than  by  the  foregoing  estimate,  quoted  by  Johnston.  Both  are  so 
minute  as  scarcely  to  be  appreciable;  and  all  such  loss  would 
scarce  deserve  consideration,  as  a  practical  matter,  but  for  the  false 
importance  which  has  been  given  to  this  manner  of  abstraction  of 
lime  from  land. 

The  ordinary  farm-made  manures,  with  some  purchased  peat- 
ashes,  composed  the  manure  applied  by  Boussingault,  in  each  ro- 
tation ;  and  which  served  to  supply  to  the  soil  much  more  of  all 
the  mineral  parts  than  were  taken  up  by  the  crops  of  all  kinds. 
Of  course,  there  could  have  been  no  deficiency  of  supply  of  lime 
for  the  use  of  the  growing  plants,  nor  any  less  taken  up  by  them 
than  they  required. 

2.  Another  waste  of  lime  alleged  by  Prof.  Johnston  is  by  solu- 
tion in  rain  (or  other)  water.  He  says  :  "  In  the  quick  or  caustic 
state,  lime  is  soluble  in  pure  water,  750  lbs.  of  water  serving  to 
dissolve  1  lb.  of  lime.  The  rains  that  fall  cannot  fail,  as  they  sink 
through  the  soil,  to  dissolve  and  carry  away  a  portion  of  the  lime 
so  long  as  it  remains  in  the  caustic  state.  Again,  quick-lime, 
mixed  with  the  soil,  speedily  attracts  carbonic  acid,  and  in  time 
becomes  the  carbonate,  which  is  nearly  insoluble  in  pure  water, 
but  is  soluble  in  water  impregnated  with  carbonic  acid ;  and  as  the 
drops  of  rain  in  falling  absorb  this  acid  from  the  air,  they  become 
capable,  when  they  reach  the  soil,  of  dissolving  an  appreciable 
quantity  of  the  finely-divided  carbonate  of  lime  on  cultivated  fields. 


202  SUCH   WASTE   OF   LIME   DENIED. 

Hence  the  water  that  flows  from  the  drains  upon  such  lands  is 
always  impregnated  with  lime,  and  sometimes  to  so  great  a  degree 
as  to  form  calcareous  deposits  in  the  interior  of  the  drains  them- 
selves. .  .  The  loss  of  lime  from  these  causes  cannot  be 
estimated,  and  must  vary  with  the  exposure  to  rains,  and  slope  of 
surface,  &c.  But  the  cause  is  universal  and  continually  operating, 
and  would  alone  therefore  render  necessary,  after  the  lapse  of  years, 
the  applications  of  new  doses  of  lime."   (p.  399.) 

Answer. — These  several  chemical  powers,  &c,  are  fully  admitted. 
But  their  action,  under  usual  and  proper  conditions  of  limed  or 
marled  land,  must  be  very  limited,  even  when  any  such  agency  of 
waste  can  be  produced.  Caustic  lime,  as  stated  above,  may  be 
sparingly  dissolved  in  pure  water.  But  lime,  applied  as  manure, 
does  not  long  remain  caustic,  and,  after  ceasing  to  be  so,  is  no 
longer  the  least  exposed  to  this  particular  source  of  loss ;  and  marl, 
or  carbonated  lime,  is  not  at  all  so  exposed.  As  carbonate  of  lime, 
however,  and  while  so  remaining,  another  means  of  solution  is 
operating,  in  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  air.  But  the  quantity  of 
this  acid  is  so  small,  and  its  tendency  to  be  absorbed  by  water  so 
great,  that  a  very  light  rain,  or  merely  the  beginning  of  a  long  or 
heavy  rain,  must  bring  all  the  then  floating  carbonic  acid  to  the 
soil.  This  fluid  would  immediately  sink  into  the  pores  of  the  earth, 
with  its  dissolved  carbonate  of  lime,  if  any ;  and  there  be  preserved, 
either  mechanically  or  chemically  (by  further  and  speedy  combina- 
tion with  other  matters  of  the  soil),  so  as  to  be  very  little  if  at  all 
subject  to  removal  in  superfluous  water  before  being  saved  and  put 
to  use  as  manure  in  later-formed  and  more  fixed  chemical  combina- 
tions. This  particular  source  of  waste  cannot  apply  at  all  but  to 
lime  in  the  form  of  carbonate.  And,  according  to  my  previously 
expressed  views,  that  form  is  soon  changed  (with  moderate  and 
proper  dressings)  to  other  salts  of  lime,  or  combinations  with  the 
organic  parts  and  the  other  earths  of  the  soil.  In  such  case,  the 
last  considered  outlet  for  waste  is  also  closed ;  but,  possibly,  and 
as  Prof.  Johnston  supposes  certainly,  others  are  opened,  and  will 
operate,  as  thus  : — 

3.  "During  the  decay  of  vegetable  matter,  and  the  decomposi- 
tion of  mineral  compounds,  which  take  place  in  the  soil  where  lime 
is  present,  new  combinations  are  formed  in  variable  quantities, 
which  are  more  soluble  than  the  carbonate,  and  which  therefore 
hasten  and  facilitate  this  washing  out  of  the  lime  by  the  action  of 
rains.  Thus  chloride  of  calcium,  nitrate  of  lime,  and  gypsum,  are 
all  produced — of  which  the  two  former  are  eminently  soluble  in 
water — while  organic  acids  [as  humic,  acetic,  &c.  &c]  also  result 
from  the  decay  of  the  organic  matter,  with  some  of  which  the  limo 
forms  readily  soluble  compounds  (salts),  easily  removed  by  water." 
(p.  399.) 


OTHER  ALLEOED   CAUSES   OF   WASTE.  203 

Answer. — Admitted  fully,  as  to  the  supposed  chemical  changes, 
and  the  solubility  of  some  of  the  now  compounds.  But  these  new 
compounds  are  produced  only  so  long  as  the  lime  remains  either 
caustic  or  carbonated  in  the  soil,  neither  of  which  conditions  ex- 
tends beyond  a  few  years,  if  dressings  be  not  excessively  heavy, 
and  if  the  material  is  finely  divided  and  well  diffused  through  the 
soil ;  and  while  in  progress,  the  formation  of  these  acid  products, 
and  their  resulting  salts  of  lime,  must  be  so  extremely  slow  and 
gradual,  that  probably  nearly  as  fast  as  produced  they  are  further 
combined  with  other  solid  matters,  and  secured  from  the  waste 
which  possibly  might  be  caused  by  their  solution  in  water.  Of 
course,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  measure  of  this  supposed 
saving  process.  The  general  effects  are  inferred  from  the  known, 
unquestionable,  and  grand  results  of  thousands  of  years  old,  seen 
in  the  still  preserved  constituents  of  lime  and  of  fertilizing  organic 
matter  in  combination,  in  all  the  natural  moderately  calcareous  and 
rich  neutral  soils  known.  If  we  were  to  admit  the  full  operation 
of  causes  of  waste  of  lime,  as  supposed  by  Professor  Johnston,  then 
every  natural  and  moderately  calcareous  soil  must  long  ago  have 
lost  nearly  or  all  its  lime,  by  one  or  all  of  the  several  preceding 
operations  of  solution  and  removal.  And  if  deprived  of  the  lime, 
it  would  be  a  certain  consequence  (according  to  my  views)  that  the 
soluble  and  useful  organic  matter,  however  abundant,  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances  of  soils,  would  also  be  carried  off,  leaving  the 
uncultivated  land  throughout  the  world  destitute  of  both  lime  and 
organic  matter,  and  therefore  completely  and  hopelessly  barren. 
Such  results,  or  even  any  approaching  thereto,  are  unknown;  and 
their  possible  existence  is  as  much  opposed  to  all  known  facts  of 
natural  soils,  as  they  would  be  to  our  belief  in  final  causes  and  the 
all-benevolent  care  and  protection  of  his  works  and  creatures  by 
Almighty  Grod. 

But  however  strong  may  be  these  general  reasons  for  denying 
the  wasting  of  lime  and  its  resulting  salts,  there  is  a  particular 
chemical  power  asserted  by  recent  authority,  which,  if  true,  covers 
and  sustains  nearly  my  whole  ground  of  objection.  Professor 
Gardner,  in  his  late  work,  "  The  Farmer's  Dictionary"  (published 
1846),  in  the  article  "  Humus,"  refers  to,  as  a  known  and  undis- 
puted chemical  truth,  that  the  humate  of  lime  is  nearly  insoluble 
in  water.*     Now,  though  the  humic  acid  is  but  one  of  four  or  five 

*  Of  the  fact  of  the  insolubility  of  humate  of  lime,  the  authority  of  Prof. 
Gardner,  or  of  any  recent  chemical  writer,  must  be  sufficient.  But  I  would 
deny  his  deduction  from  that  property,  that  therefore  humate  of  lime  can- 
not directly  act  to  feed  plants.  Vegetable  life  can  exert  dissolving  and 
decomposing  powers  that  the  chemist  in  his  laboratory  cannot  imitate  or  ap- 
proach. If  the  property  of  insolubility  in  pure  water  rendered  any  substance 
necessarily  useless  as  a  direct  manuring  agent,  we  should  be  compelled 


201  CAUSES    Or   WASTE   Cu.NslLEKED. 

acids  of  soil,  of  vegetable  origin,  ■which  chemists  have  recently 
ascertained,  the  huinic  acid  is  by  far  the  most  frequent,  abundant, 
and  important  of  all.  Of  course  when  lime  is  applied  to  an  acid 
soil  (i.  e.,  any  one  needing  the  chemical  action  of  calcareous  earth), 
the  most  abundant  resulting  salt  will  be  the  huinate  of  lime,  which 
being  insoluble  in  water  (or  very  nearly  so),  is  entirely  secured 
from  the  waste  to  which  a  soluble  salt  might  possibly  be,  but  is 
not  necessarily  liable. 

4.  "The  ultimate  resolution  of  all  vegetable  matter  in  the  soil'' 
continues  Professor  Johnston,  "  into  carbonic  acid  and  water,  like- 
wise aids  the  removal  of  the  lime.  For  if  the  soil  be  everywhere 
impregnated  with  carbonic  acid,  the  rain  and  spring  waters  that 
flow  through  it  will  also  become  charged  with  this  gas,  and  thus  be 
enabled  to  dissolve  so  much  the  larger  portion  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
Thus,  theory  indicates,  what  I  believe  experience  confirms,  that  a 
given  quantity  of  lime  will  disapjiear  the  sooner  from  a  field,  the 
more  abv.itdant  the  animal  and  vegetable  matter  it  contains.''  (p. 
399,  -100.) — Ansicrr. — First,  to  the  last  incidental  passage,  I  will 
merely  state  unqualified  dissent.  So  far  from  the  quantity  of  vege- 
table matter  promoting  the  escape  of  the  lime,  it  would  tend  to 
prevent  such  waste,  if  otherwise  likely  to  occur.  According  to 
my  theory  of  the  action,  the  lime  and  vegetable  matter  in  soils 
combine  with  each  other,  and  with  other  parts  of  the  soil,  each  one 
thus  serving  to  retain  the  others,  if  otherwise  liable  to  waste. 

Whatever  may  occur  in  old  manure  heaps,  or  in  the  chemist's 
laboratory,  it  is  not  likely  that  much,  if  any,  vegetable  matter  in 
sod  (and  when  not  in  great  excess),  can  pass  through  all  the  va- 
rious stages  of  decomposition,  to  the  last,  that  of  being  resolved  into 
carbonic  acid  and  water.  Previous  changes  would  slowly  render 
the  parts  soluble,  and  fit  to  be  drawn  up  by  the  roots  of  plants ; 
and  probably  all  would  be  so  used,  so  that  very  little  reaches  the 
gaseous  state.  But  if  carbonic  acid  should  be  formed,  the  pro- 
duction would  be  very  slow,  so  that  the  results  would  be  all  required 
for,  and  taken  up,  by  plants  in  aid  of  their  support  and  growth, 
almost  as  fast  as  they  were  produced.  Thus,  there  would  be  but 
little  if  any  opportunity  for  the  alleged  waste  of  lime,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  organic  matters  in  the  soil  reaching  the  last  stage 
of  decomposition,  and  being  reduced  to  carbonic  acid  and  water. 

So  far,  the  sundry  particular  reasons  offered  in  support  of  the 
alleged  transitory  opt-ration  and  existence  of  lime  in  soils  have 
opposed  by  particular  objections.     But  still  stronger  grounds  of 
objection  may  be  assumed  in  general  views,  which  will  now  be 
brought  forward. 

t^  place  in  the  same  class  both  cai-bonate  and  phosphate  of  lime  entirely  ; 
and  also  caustic  lime,  for  much  the  greater  part  of  the  bulk  of  an  ordinary 
application  as  manure. 


DURATION   OF   EARTHY   MANURES.  205 

Most  farmers  are  so  accustomed  to  consider  manures  as  being 
fleeting  in  their  operation  and  existence  in  soil,  as  arc  the  ordinary 
putrescent  manures,  that  it  is  difficult  for  them  to  have  any  con- 
ception of  any  kind  lasting  and  acting  for  ever.  And  this  difficulty 
of  conception,  stands  much  in  the  way  of  my  argument.  But,  how-' 
ever  little  used  by  farmers,  or  even  thought  of,  in  this  light,  it  is 
obvious  and  undeniable,  that  certain  mineral  manures  will  continue 
in  operation,  and  without  abatement  of  effects,  as  long  as  the  soil, 
or  the  habitable  globe  itself,  shall  exist.  Thus,  clay  is  a  manure 
for  sandy  soil,  serving  to  stiffen  and  compact  its  before  too  light, 
loose,  and  open  texture.  Sand  also  is  a  manure  for  stiff  clay  soils, 
serving  to  correct  their  tenacity  when  wet,  and  their  obduracy  when 
dry,  and  make  them  more  open,  light,  and  permeable ;  more  easy 
to  cultivate,  and  more  safe  for  production.  And  in  either  of  these 
manuring  operations,  it  is  self-evident,  and  not  admitting  of  ques- 
tion, that  the  continuance  of  these  manures,  and  their  good  effects, 
will  be  eternal. 

Carbonate  of  lime  in  soil,  whether  supplied  by  nature  or  art, 
like  sand  and  clay,  is  a  ponderous  earth,  and  but  to  small  extent 
liable  to  waste  or  loss  by  any  natural  agency.  It  is  insoluble  by 
water,  except  so  far  as  water  may  contain  carbonic  acid,  which 
renders  water  a  solvent  of  carbonate  of  lime.  But  this  impregna- 
tion of  water  in  soil  is  very  limited.  It  can  scarcely  occur  at  all 
except  in  the  usual  mode,  by  rain-water,  when  descending  through 
the  atmosphere,  absorbing  and  bringing  to  the  earth  the  very  small 
and  strictly  limited  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  lower  atmos-^ 
phere.  Except  in  this  respect,  and  for  the  still  more  minute  and 
scarcely  appreciable  quantity  of  lime  taken  up  by  growing  plants,  (as 
stated  above),  carbonate  of  lime  in  soil  would  seem  to  be  as  inde- 
structible, and  as  surely  abiding  through  all  future  time,  as  the  clay 
or  the  sand  which  rnight  also  have  been  given  as  manure,  or  other- 
wise held  as  natural  ingredients  of  the  same  soil.  As  rain-water 
always  brings  to  the  earth  some  carbonic  acid,  though  in  extremely 
small  quantity,  still,  to  that  small  extent,  the  carbonate  of  lime  in 
the  soil  is  liable  to  be  dissolved;  and  when  so  dissolved,  if  there 
were  no  counteracting  agencies,  some  of  the  dissolved  earth  might 
be  lost  (possibly)  by  filtration  through  the  soil,  or,  less  improbably, 
by  being  floated  off  from  the  surface,  in  the  flowing  away  of  any 
excess  of  rain-water.  But  there  are  counteracting  agencies  ope- 
rating to  prevent  the  loss  of  lime  in  this,  and  also  in  other  soluble 
forms.  According  to  my  own  early  (and  then  unsupported)  views 
of  the  formation  of  acid  in  soil,  as  well  as  according  to  the  now 
received  general  opinions  on  that  subject,  the  carbonate  of  lime 
would  soon  begin  to  be  changed  to  other  salts  of  lime,  by  combina- 
tion with  other  acids  in  the  soil-.  Some  one  or  more  of  these  newly 
formed  salts  might  be  much  more  soluble  in  water  than  the  carbo- 
18 


206  DURATION'   OF    SALTS    OF   LIME. 

nate,  and  therefore  more  liable  to  be  wasted  by  rain-water  surcharg- 
ing the  soil.  This  result  can  neither  be  affirmed  nor  denied,  from 
any  positive  knowledge  of  such  facts,  or  of  the  chemical  changes 
nee  them.     We  do  not  know  which  of  the  vegetable  acids, 

nor  how  many  of  them,  at  once  or  successively,  may  combine  with 
the  lime ;  and  therefore  cannot  know  what  other  salts  of  lime  will 
be  produced.  The  humate  of  lime,  which,  it  may  be  presumed, 
will  be  the  most  abundant  of  such  products,  is  difficult  of  solution 
by  water.  If  oxalate  of  lime  should  be  formed  (as  is  probable, 
where  sorrel  was  before  an  abundant  growth),  that  is  an  insoluble 
salt,  and  therefore  safe  from  this  manner  of  loss.  The  acetate  of 
lime,  another  probable  result,  is  easily  soluble  in  water ;  and  per- 
haps other  vegetable  and  soluble  salts  may  be  formed  in  soils, 
though  more  rarely  and  in  less  quantity  than  the  humate  and  oxa- 
of  lime.  Besides,  there  are  other  soluble  salts  of  lime  named 
by  Prof.  Johnston,  and  quoted  above.  But,  however  little  may 
be  known  by  chemists  or  others  of  the  kinds  and  quantities  of  these 
salts  into  which  carbonate  of  lime  is  gradually  changed,  by  access  of 
different  vegetable  or  other  acids,  it  appears,  from  the  general  and 
abiding  effects  on  fertilization  and  production,  that  all  these  differ- 
ent salts  of  lime  continue  to  perform,  and  as  fully,  all  the  enduring 
|  functions  of  carbonate  of  lime.  For  when  a  soil,  after  having  been 
made  slightly  calcareous,  has  in  time  become  neutral  (and  of  course 
its  carbonate  of  lime  has  been  all  converted  to  other  salts  of  lime), 
the  soil  thereby  loses  none  of  its  so  acquired  fertility  or  value, 
through  any  succeeding  known  time.  This  could  not  be  the  case 
if  the  lime  in  its  new  condition  was  liable  to  certain  and  rapid,  and 
finally  complete  waste,  by  dissolving  and  escaping  waters.  In  a 
former  chapter  (pp.  96,  97,)  I  maintained  that  the  serviceable  and 
acting  lime  in  soil  (for  of  course  any  quantity  in  excess  is  not  so 
considered)  becomes  chemically  combined  with  the  organic,  or  ali- 
mentary manuring  principles  present,  and  all  these  with  other  earthy 
parts  of  the  soil.  Judging  from  the  abiding  effects,  and  in  regard 
to  neutral  soils,  it  may  be  safely  inferred  that  such  combinations 
occur  not  only  with  the  carbonate,  but  with  nearly  all  the  later 
produced  salts  of  lime,  resulting  from  the  carbonate.  And  if  so, 
such  combination  with  other  insoluble  and  permanent  matters  of  the 
..  would  render  as  fixed  and  permanent  even  the  salts  most  solu- 
ble and  liable  to  waste  when  alone.  Of  this,  I  will  state  an  ex- 
ample that  will  be  familiar  to  every  one.  Sulphate  of  iron  (copperas) 
is  easily  soluble  in  water ;  and,  if  alone,  would  be  soon  removed 
completely  by  the  dissolving  water  passing  away.  The  red  juice 
of  fresh  nut-galls  would  be  nearly  as  easily  taken  up,  and  washed 
off  by  water.  But  these  two  substances,  if  meeting  together,  would 
chemically  combine,  making  ordinary  black  ink ;  which  cannot  be 
washed  away  by  water  from  any  substance  to  which  it  is  attached ; 


NATURAL   CALCAREOUS   SOILS.  207 

nor  can  cither  of  the  before  soluble  parts  be  thus  taken  from  the 
other.  It  is  in  this  manner  that  lime,  even  in  its  soluble  forms, 
is  fixed  permanently  in  soils.  And  whether  in  this  manner,  or 
otherwise,  it  is  sufficiently  manifest  that  such  results  are  produced, 
by  reference  to  the  great  manuring  operations  of  nature,  unlimited 
as  to  both  space  and  time,  and  compared  to  which  the  largest  ex- 
perience and  greatest  labours  of  man  are  as  nothing.  To  these  great 
operations  I  now  appeal  for  proof  of  the  long-abiding  and  unending  j 
benefits  of  calcareous  manures.  ' 

Soils  naturally  supplied  with  lime,  in  pi-oper  proportions,  are  as 
much  cases  of  calcareous  manuring,  as  if  performed  as  early  by 
agricultural  art  and  industry.      All  such  naturally  limed  lands, 
throughout  the  known  world,  have  always  been,  and  still  continuo 
to  be,  among  the  most  valuable  and  fertile.     Such  lands,  in  Europe~~\ 
and  Asia,  remarkable  for  their  productiveness  thousands  of  years  J 
ago,  have  lost  nothing  of  that  character  to  this  day.     In  America,\ 
our  agriculture  is  comparatively  new,  and  therefore   our  historical  \ 
proofs  of  such  facts  are  comparatively  limited.     But  even  in  this 
new  country,  the  rich  soils  of  the  valley  of  Virginia  have  continued  j 
to  bring  fine  crops  for  more  than  a  century.    And  no  one  acquaint.  | 
ed  with  these  and  other  similar  naturally  fertile  lands  has  ever  ' 
doubted  that  they  will,  under  judicious  culture,  and  equal  circum-  j 
stances,  maintain  their  present  superiority  over  other  poorer  lands,  | 
through  all  time.     Yet  these  fine  lands  owe   their  value  and  supe-  i 
riority  to  their  natural  lime  constitution ;  and  their  continued  fer- 
tility, for  a  century,  is  but  the  effect  and  evidence  of  the  original 
liming  having  operated  as  long.     It  is  true  that  many  such  lands, 
in  this  country,  have  already  been   greatly  reduced  in  fertility  by 
long-continued  exhausting  cultivation,  which  has  boon  used  to  take 
as  much  from,  and  return  as  little   as  possible   to  the  soil.     But 
though  such  exhausting  tillage  is  capable  of  consuming  and  destroy- 
ing most  of  the  organic  matter,  and  thereby  inducing  comparative 
barrenness  for  the  time,  yet  it  does  not  lesseu  the  lime  ingredient 
and  quality,  nor  the  recuperative  powers  which   the  soil  derived 
from  the  lime ;  and  which,  if  left  again  to  act,  for  sufficient  time, 
will  restore  the  former  condition  of  productiveness.     Scourged  as 
such  soils  have  been  in   many  cases,  by  continued   exhausting  til- 
lage, they  still  show,  in  their  most  reduced  and  barren  condition, 
as  much  as  ever  before,  the  possession  of  the  peculiar  qualities  de- 
rived from  their  lime  ingredient.     When  such  soils,  by  time,  or 
cultivation,  shall  have  lost  their  dark  colour,  their  power  of  absorb- 
ing and  retaining  moisture,  and  of  retaining  putrescent  manures, 
and  their  peculiar  fitness  for  producing  leguminous  plants,  then, 
and  not  before,  it  may  be  asserted  with  some  plausibility  that  the 
salts  of  lime,  which  had  formerly  induced  fertility,  have  been  since 
entirely  lost  by  the  soil. 


208  ABSURDITY   OF   THE   DOCTRINE   OPPOSED. 

If  the  lime  in  soil  was  indeed  subject  to  waste  and  loss  in  the 
manner  and  to  the  extent  maintained  by  Prof.  Johnston,  the  ill 
consequences  would  necessarily  be  general,  and  so  disastrous  that 
there  could  be  no  possible  mistake  of  the  operation  and  its  results. 
Upon  his  own  premises,  the  actual  (and  always  admitted)  removal 
of  lime  from  the  soil  in  its  crops,  though  certain,  is  too  small  to 
be  appreciable.  It  is  a  theoretical  truth,  of  which  the  practical 
operation  is  imperceptible.  And  this  imperceptible  part  of  the 
alleged  loss  of  lime  is  all  that  is  caused  by  tillage  and  the  removal 
of  the  crops.  It  is  by  the  lime  (either  as  quick-Ume,  carbonate,  or 
other  salts)  being  dissolved  in  water,  according  to  Prof.  Johnston's 
views,  that  the  great  loss  is  incurred,  and  that  all,  or  nearly  all, 
the  lime  furnished  for  manure  is  finally  lost,  and  within  not  very 
long  periods  of  time.  This,  the  great  cause  of  waste,  is  operating 
(as  asserted)  by  every  considerable  or  excessive  rain,  on  all  soils 
containing  lime,  and  through  all  time.  This  operation,  too,  would 
not  be  less  sure  on  lime  existing  naturally  in  soils,  than  if  supplied 
as  manure,  and  as  thoroughly  incorporated  as  in  a  natural  calcare- 
ous or  neutral  soil.  And  if  twenty  or  thirty  years'  operation  of 
the  solvent  power  of  rain-water  suffices  (as  asserted)  usually  to  re- 
move either  mostly  or  completely  the  lime  before  furnished  to  the 
land  as  manure,  then,  surely,  the  same  universally  operating  power 
of  rain-water  must  as  completely  remove  and  utterly  waste  any 
barely  sufficient  natural  ingredient  of  lime,  say  in  100  years.  So, 
all  lands  throughout  the  world,  moderately  and  properly  supplied 
by  nature  with  lime,  would  thus  have  lost  the  whole  thousauds  of 
years  ago.  And  they  would  all  have  thenceforward  remained  thus 
destitute  of  lime,  until  being  re-supplied  by  man.  This  kind  of 
artificial  manuring  has  never  been  used  on  but  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  all  the  lands  of  the  world  under  tillage ;  and  even  on  such 
small  proportion,  for  but  a  short  portion  of  all  the  time  in  which 
tillage  has  been  in  use.  Of  com\se,  then,  on  all  other  lands  not 
containing  an  excessive  store  of  lime,  the  whole  of  this  essential 
ingredient,  in  every  form  of  combination,  should  be  entirely  want- 
ing ;  and,  therefore  (according  to  my  views  of  the  absolute  neces- 
sity for,  and  the  action  of  lime),  much  the  greater  portion  of  the 
surface  of  the  earth  would  have  been  thus  rendered  perfectly  bar- 
ren. For,  without  lime  to  combine  with  and  fix  organic  matter, 
there  would  be  nothing  to  retain  the  latter;  and  the  complete 
waste  of  the  lime  would  be  necessarily  followed  hy  the  waste  of  all  the 
enriching  matter  in  the  soil,  and  the  inducing  of  complete  sterility. 
The  known  fact  that  no  such  effects  are  produced,  or  any  even  ap- 
proaching to  them,  is  alone  sufficient  proof  that  the  waste  of  lime 
in  soil  cannot  occur,  as  supposed  by  Prof.  Johnston. 

Enough  has  been  said  in  opposition  both  to  the  alleged  fact  of 
the  natural  waste  of  the  acting  and  requisite  lime  in  soil,  and  th(> 


OTIIER   SALTS   IN   SOILS.  209 

supposed  manner  of  the  waste  being  produced.     But  there  is  an- 
other connected  and  similar  subject  which  deserves  notice. 

The  salts  of  lime  are  not  all  the  salts,  nor  the  only  soluble  mat- 
ters, usually  present  in  soils.  The  inorganic  parts  of  plants, 
forming  their  ashes,  after  their  being  burnt,  consist  mostly  of 
various  salts,  not  only  of  lime,  but  also  of  other  bases,  as  magnesia, 
potash,  soda.  &o.  These  salts,  of  course,  were  drawn  by  the  plants 
from  the  soils  on  which  they  grew.  From  their  being  universally 
present  in  plants  (so  far  as  known),  modern  chemists  have  inferred 
that  all  these  various  salts  are  essential  to  the  health,  if  not  to  the 
existence  of  the  plants,  and,  of  course,  essential  to  the  productive-. 
ness  of  the  soil  for  these  plants.  But  most  or  all  of  these  salts,  of 
magnesia,  potash,  soda,  <*cc,  are  soluble  in  water,  and  some  very 
easily  soluble.  If,  then,  as  Prof.  Johnston  argues  as  to  lime,  water 
necessarily  dissolves  and  removes  whatever  soluble  salt  or  earth  is 
existing  in  soils,  I  would  ask  why  have  not  all  these  other  soluble 
matters  been  removed  from  all  soils  ?  These  are  present  usually 
in  much  smaller  proportions  than  lime  or  its  salts,  and  therefore 
could  be  more  easily  dissolved  and  removed.  That  no  such  com- 
plete loss  of  these  other  salts  has  been  produced  in  any  soil,  so  far 
as  known,  is  another  sufficient  reason  for  inferring  that  neither  is 
lime,  nor  its  more  soluble  salts,  likely  to  be  taken  away  from  the 
soil,  when  acting  usefully  as  fertilizing  matters,  by  the  solvent 
action  of  water.  This  view  of  the  case  is  still  stronger  in  another 
aspect.  Liming  in  England  and  Scotland  is  usually  renewed  (as 
stated  above),  or  requires  renewal,  in  twenty  years  or  thereabout. 
The  farmers  of  Norfolk  (England)  also  renew  their  heavy  marlings 
every  ei-jht  years  or  sooner.  Hence  it  is  argued  that  the  calcareous 
manure  is  exhausted  in  some  such  limited  times.  But  the  other 
salts,  of  magnesia,  potash,  soda,  deemed  by  modern  chemists  as 
essential  to  soils  and  to  their  production,  are  almost  never  replaced 
by  artificial  applications,  or  by  design,  even  under  the  highest  and 
best  farming,  and  absolutely  never  (unless  by  rare  accident)  in 
ruder  culture.  Hence  it  would  seem  legitimately  deduced  from 
Prof.  Johnston's  reasoning  as  to  the  disappearance  of  lime,  that 
even  in  the  highly-limed  and  cultivated  lands  of  Britain,  the  other 
elements  of  fertile  soil,  all  deemed  as  essential  to  production  as 
lime,  ought  to  have  been  exhausted  long  ago.  On  nearly  all  other 
parts  of  the  world,  not  only  all  these  other  substances,  but  also  the 
lime  itself,  ought  to  have  been  entirely  removed,  and  every  soil 
rendered  barren."  This  .reduction  to  an  absurd  conclusion  would 
alone  be  enough  to  disprove  the  argument  I  oppose. 

Prof.  Johnston,  in  his  attempt  to  prove  the  transitory  existence 

and  operation  of  lime  as  manure,  has  committed  an  error  to  which 

scientific  men  who  treat  on  practical   agriculture   are  extremely 

prone.     This  is  to  suppose  that  matters  in  the  soil  act  with  and 

18* 


) 


210  THE  MEASURE  OF  DURATION. 

are  acted  on  by  others  present,  as  they  would  in  the  cher.. 

In  the  soil,  there  are  many  other  matters  present)  and 
some,  perhaps,  whose  presence  is  not  suspected ;  and  very  complex 
and  extensive  and  varying  combinations  may  exist  of  various  mat- 
tor-,  whose  characters  and  powers  are  certainly  not  understood. 
But  while  denying  the  correctness  of  his  application  to  the  soil  of 
correct  and  unquestioned  chemical  laws  in  regard  to  the  knoxen 
matters  and  agencies  under  consideration,  and  while  striving  to 
imate  of  the  extent  of  the  operation  of  other  agencies, 
still  I  readily  admit  that  valuable  truth  and  good  instruction  are 
to  be  gathered  from  his  opinions  on  this  branch  of  his  subject. 
He  has  enabled  me  to  see  errors  in,  or  exceptions  to  the  extent  of 
my  own  first  opinion,  as  heretofore  stated.  That  opinion,  which 
claimed  absolute  permanency  for  all  the  lime  in  soil  (always  ex- 
ng  the  minute  portion  taken  up  by  plants),  and  Prof. 
Johnston's  opinion  of  the  great  waste  and  speedy  removal  of  all 
the  lime  used  as  manure,  were  both  carried  to  very  erroneous  ex- 
tremes. The  true  doctrine  will  be  found  between  those  extremes ; 
which  I  trust  that  I  have  now  reached,  and  will  endeavour  to 
indicate. 

As  strenuously  as  formerly.  I  still  assert  and  maintain  the  per- 
manency of  lime  in  soil,  for  such  amount  of  quantity  as  is  at  the 
time  acting  chemically,  or  as  manure.  That  quantity  is  very  small, 
compared  to  what  is  in  some  highly  calcareous  soils — perhaps  not 
usually  more  than  1  per  cent,  of  the  whole  tilled  layer.  Yet  this 
small  quantity  performs  all  the  useful  manuring  functions  of  lime ; 
and  any  excess  of  this  earth,  beyond  that  amount,  has  no  manuring 
or  beneficial  action.  It  is  merely  a  mechanical  earthy  ingredient — 
which,  if  large,  may  do  some  good,  or,  as  likely,  some  harm  by  its 
nee  and  its  mechanical  bearing  on  the  texture  of  the  soil,  but 
is  not  in  the  least  a  fertilizing  agent.  Upon  any  such  surplus 
quantities  of  either  lime  or  carbonate  of  lime  in  soil  (and  perhaps 
also  some  other  salts  of  Hme  not  required  by  and  combined  with 
-oil,  and  therefore  in  excess),  the  solvent  power  of  rain-water 
may  act,  and  the  lime  be  gradually  thereby  removed,  according  to 
the  operation  of  chemical  laws,  in  the  manner  stated  by  Prof. 
Johnston.  But  with  regard  to  the  small  quantity  of  lime  required 
as  manure,  it  is  (according  to  my  original  views  before  presented, 
p.  96)  combined  chemically  with  the  alimentary  organic  matter, 
and  both  these,  with  the  soil  itself,  and  this  state  of  combination, 
is  safe  from  solution  or  loss.  The  quantity  of  Ume  which  may  be 
required  and  used  as  manure  by  a  soil,  varies  at  different  times 
be  changes  of  condition.  The  more  putrescent  matter 
the  soil  receives,  as  manure,  the  more  lime  will  be  required  to 
ine  with,  preserve,  and  properly  utilize  the  organic  and  ali- 
mentary matter.     Any  excess  of  lime,  whether  bestowed  by  nature, 


USEFUL  APPLICATIONS   TO   PRACTICE.  211 

or  as  manure  by  man,  beyond  the  present  wants  of  the  soil,  is 
only  of  value  so  far  as  being  there  ready  for  any  future  increased 
demand  of  the  soil,  and  so  may  supersede  the  necessity  of  another 
supply  being  required  as  soon.  Therefore,  however  active  may  be 
the  solvent  power  of  water,  and  however  rapid  the  consequent 
waste  of  the  excess  of  lime  in  the  soil,  the  operation  can  detract 
nothing  from  any  manuring  value,  or  quantity  of  the  lime,  pre- 
viously and  then  existing. 

The  statements  and  reasoning  of  Prof.  Johnston  brought  to  prove 
the  waste  and  final  disappearance  of  all  lime  used  as  manure,  how- 
ever inconclusive-  for  his  object,  furnish  important  truths  for 
practical  use.  We  may  thence  deduce  additional  reasons  for  the 
impropriety  of  laying  on  at  once  too  much  marl  or  lime  for  the  then 
wants  of  the  soil ',  and  also  of  the  usual  unequal  diffusion,  which 
serves  to  make  even  a  light  dressing  excessive  in  many  spots,  while 
entirely  wanting  in  others.  Not  only,  as  I  had  before  urged,  is  all 
such  excess  of  quantity,  whether  general  or  partial,  a  waste  of 
labour,  a  conversion  of  active  to  dead  capital,  and  the  causing 
danger  of  actual  injury  to  crops — but  further,  such  excess  of  lime, 
or  carbonate  of  lime,  is  subject  to  more  or  less  waste,  by  solution 
and  removal,  so_long  as  it  remains  superfluous,  and  not  required 
for  immediate  use  by  either  the  soil  or  growing  plants.  It  is  such 
excess  as  this  in  soils,  that  furnished  all  the  wasted  lime  found  by 
chemists  in  the  waters  discharged  by  drainage  from  limed  lands. 
Still  more  extensive  natural  operations  of  the  same  kind,  and 
stronger  proofs,  are  to  be  seen  in  all  lime-stone  and  highly  cal- 
careous regions.  The  rain-water  filtrating  through  such  rocks  and 
soils,  becomes  universally  and  highly  charged  with  lime ;  of  which 
a  large  portion  is  removed  and  lost  to  the  place  of  its  origin,  by 
flowing  off  into  sources  of  springs  and  streams.  Another  portion, 
by  filtration,  may  sink  deep  into  the  earth.  In  limestone  and  chalk 
regions,  indications  of  the  quantity  of  lime  dissolved  by  rain-water, 
from  the  rocks  and  soil,  and  carried  off  by  springs,  may  be  observed 
not  only  in  the  lime-impregnation  of  spring-water,  but  also  in  the 
deposition  of  travertine,  or  calcareous  tufa,  at  the  rapids  of  streams ; 
and  of  the  loss  by  filtration  in  the  stalactite  deposits  in  every 
cavern  of  the  earth. 

There  remains  to  state  one  other  manner  of  the  loss  of  lime  in 
soil,  which  is  mentioned  by  Prof.  Johnston,  and  also  other  authors, 
as  being  a  common,  if  not  a  general  result  in  England.  This  loss 
is  caused  by  the  tendency  of  lime,  which  has  been  applied,  to  sink 
below  the  upper  soil.  "  It  has  long  been  familiar  to  practical  men," 
says  Johnston,  "  that  when  grass  lands,  which  have  been  limed  on 
the  sward,  are  after  a  time  broken  up,  a  white  layer  or  band  of 
lime  is  seen  at  a  greater  or  less  depth  beneath  the  surface,  but 
lodging  generally,  where  it  has  attained  its  greatest  depth  between 


212  SINKING   OF  LIME. 

the  upper,  loose,  and  fertile,  and  the  lower,  more  or  less  impervious 
and  unproductive  soil.  In  arable  lands,  the  action  of  the  plough 
counteracts  this  tendency  in  some  measure,  bringing  up  the  lime 
again  from  beneath,  and  keeping  it  mixed  with  the  surface  mould. 
Yet  through  ploughed  land  it  sinks  at  length,  especially  where  the 
ploughing  is  shallow ;  and  even  the  industry  of  the  gardener  can 
scarcely  prevent  it  from  descending  beyond  the  reach  of  his  spade." 
(p.  397.)  _ 

Such  results,  frequent  as  they  doubtless  are  in  England,  are  cer- 
tainly very  rare,  and  of  no  material  disadvantage  in  this  country. 
Indeed,  until  very  lately  (in  1851),  I  had  never  heard  of  any  such 
case.  But  then  I  learned  from  Mr.  John  A.  Selden,  that  he  has 
observed  this  effect  on  his  highly  improved  and  well  limed  farm, 
Westover.  I  had  before  inferred  that  this  sinking  of  lime,  in  its 
separate  and  pure  state,  could  not  occur  except  where  it  had  been 
applied  in  excess — as  must  be  generally  done  in  the  usual  heavy 
applications  in  England ;  and  that  it  was  only  the  excess  of  lime, 
which  the  soil  did  not  then  need,  and  with  which,  therefore,  the 
organic  matter  could  not  combine,  that  could  thus  continue  sepa- 
rate, and  sink  through  the  open  soil*-  If  such  combination  had 
taken  place  (as  I  suppose  of  a  barely  sufficient  application),  of  all 
the  lime  with  the  organic  matter,  and  of  both  with  the  other  earthy 
parts  of  the  soil,  then  the  lime  could  not  separate  from  its  combi- 
nation, and  of  course  could  not  sink  alone.  Neither  could  it  carry 
with  it  the  other  matters  in  combination.  This  sinking,  it  seems, 
does  not  occur  with  marl,  or  other  "  impure  calcareous  manures," 
but  with  the  finely  powdered  burnt  lime  only.  When  breaking  up 
land  for  a  second  cultivation  subsequent  to  its  having  been  marled, 
I  have  often  seen  the  plough  bring  up  marl,  unchanged  in  appear- 
ance, from  the  bottom  of  the  furrow.  But  this  had  been  before 
turned  under  (when  first  spread)  to  that  depth,  and  had  not  been 
reached  and  intermixed  by  the  after  tillage.  Caustic  lime  is  applied 
in  England  very  heavily — often  as  much  as  300  bushels,  or  more, 
unslaked,  to  the  acre — and  repeated  at  intervals  of  about  twenty 
years.  And  these,  or  lighter  dressings,  must  often  occur  on  soils 
before  calcareous,  either  naturally,  or  made  so  by  previous  liming. 
In  either  of  these  cases,  I  would  deem  any  addition  of  lime,  how- 
ever small,  to  be  in  excess,  for  the  time ;  and  of  course  such  ex- 
cessive quantity  would  remain  uncombined,  and  therefore  subject 
to  waste.  In  this  country,  all  liming  has  been  given  in  compara- 
tively light  dressings,  and  very  rarely,  if  ever,  to  a  calcareous  soil ; 
and  therefore  it  was  rare  that  any  portion  of  the  lime  was  in 
excess,  and  consequently  remained  separate  and  uncombined.  And 
it  is  because  of  these  very  different  conditions  that  the  sinking  of 
lime,  an  effect  so  common  and  notorious  in  England,  should  be  so 


> 


RECAPITULATION.  213 

uncommon,  and  not  to  be  counted  as  a  loss  or  disadvantage  in    ) 
practice,  in  this  country. 

The  foregoing  reasoning,  and  the  conclusions  thereby  reached,  in 
regard  to  the  duration  of  calcareous  manures,  may  be  deemed  a 
continuation  of  the  subject  of  Chap.  VIII.,  "  on  the  mode  of  ope- 
ration by  which  calcai-eous  earth  increases  the  fertility  and  pro- 
ductiveness of  soils."  It  may  be  useful  here  to  recapitulate,  and 
bring  together  in  a  small  space,  the  main  positions  which  I  have 
asserted  and  maintained.  • 

1.  Besides  the  chemical  power  and  action  of  calcareous  earth  as 
manure,  to  neutralize  acids,  to  alter  and  improve  the  texture  of 
soils  and  their  relation  to  moisture,  and  also  other  beneficial 
agencies,  before  discussed  at  length,  the  principal,  and  most  import- 
ant action  of  the  carbonate  and  other  subsequently  resulting  salts 
of  lime,  in  soils,  is  the  combining  with  organic  or  alimentary  ma- 
nures, and  also  with  other  earthy  parts  of  the  soil.  The  several 
matters,  so  combined,  are  rendered,  by  their  combination,  fixed,  in 
the  whole  soil,  and  secure  from  waste — and  from  other  diminu- 
tion, except  for  the  supply  of  alimentary  matter  to  growing  plants. 
To  this  extent,  then,  and  with  the  exceptions  stated,  the  combined 
matters  would  be  permanent.  For  this  purpose,  and  to  the  extent 
required  by  growing  plants,  their  vital  forces  can  decompose  the 
combination  of  organic,  calcareous,  and  other  earthy  constituents, 
and  take  from  it  freely  the  parts  which  the  plants  require  from  the 
soil  for  their  support.  The  organic  part  of  the  compound  is  mainly 
drawn  upon,  and  diminished  by  growing  plants ;  the  calcareous  (or 
other  lime)  part  thus  furnishes  an  extremely  small  amount  only. 
Putrescent  matter,  if  again  supplied  to  the  soil,  will  replace  in  the 
combination  whatever  organic  matter  had  been  withdrawn  by  grow- 
ing plants.  It  the  soil  is  not  allowed  to  obtain  the  requisite  sup- 
ply of  organic  or  putrescent  matter,  the  fertility  of  the  soil  will 
coutiuue  to  be  reduced  by  growing  crops  gradually  exhausting  the 
previous  supply;  although  the  lime  parts  of  the  soil  may  not  be 
appreciably  lessened.  If,  on  the  contrary,  putrescent  matter  shall 
be  furnished  to  a  calxcd  soil,  or  be  pormitted  to  accumulate  in  it 
by  natural  means,  in  greater  quantity  than  the  lime  parts  can 
combine  with,  more  lime  will  be  required. 

2.  If  without  such  state  of  combination  existing,  owing  to  the 
absence  or  insufficient  quantity  of  either  part,  the  excess  of  the 
other  part  would  be  subject  to,  and  continually  undergoing  waste. 
If  the  part  in  excess  was  the  putrescent,  or  organic,  it  would 
rapidly  and  entirely  be  removed  by  decomposition,  solution,  and 
other  natural  modes  of  its  waste.  If  the  excessive  matter  was  in 
lime,  whether  caustic,  or  carbonated,  or  as  any  other  soluble  salt3 
of  lime,  this  also  would  be  gradually  dissolved,  and  lost;  and 
though  the  progress  of  such  waste  would  be  very  slow,  yet  in  the 


214  DUEATION  OF  ORGANIC  MANURES. 

course  of  long  time  it  might  be  very  considerable,  or  possibly  (as 
asserted  by  other  authority)  nearly  complete. 

o.  According,  then,  to  the  condition  of  excess  of  either  of  the 
parts  necessary  for  the  fertilizing  combination  above  stated,  either 
the  organic  matter  or  the  lime  in  soil  might  be  wasting,  and  the 
other  part  for  the  time  remain  fixed,  and  safe  from  diminution — 
alwavs  excepting  the  portion,  large  or  small,  taken  up  by  and  re- 
moved in  the  crops. 

If  I  have*  succeeded  in  establishing  the  foregoing  views  of  the 
permanent  operation  of  calcareous  manures,  it  will  involve  the 
strong  probability,  if  not  certainty,  of  another  result,  to  which 
assent  would  be  still  more  difficult  to  obtain,  without  good  reasons 
being  shown. 

Though  probably  all  observing  and  practical  farmers  would  be 
ready  to  admit  the  proposition,. that  the  natural  and  peculiar  quali- 
ties of  good  soils,  including  their  measure  of  productive  power,  are 
permanent,  (which  is  but  stating,  in  other  words,  that  the  good  effects 
of  calcareous  manures  are  permanent),  still  perhaps  few  would 
grant  the  possibility  of  permanency  of  effect  to  putrescent  manures 
also,  when  added  thereafter.  Yet  this  latter  proposition  is  as  legi- 
timate a  deduction  from  the  former,  as  the  former  preposition  is 
from  the  theory  which  has  been  maintained  of  the  action  of  calca- 
reous manures.  The  attention  of  the  reader  is  requested  to  the 
argument  which  will  now  be  offered  to  sustain  this  important  de- 
duction. 

We  have  all  been  trained  to  consider  farm-yard  and  stable-ma- 
nures, dung,  and  all  vegetable  and  other  putrescent  matters,  when 
applied  to  soils,  as  having  temporary  effects  only ;  and  whether  the 
effects  lasted  for  but  the  first  crop,  as  on  acid  sandy  soils,  or  for 
four,  six,  or  even  eight  years  on  well  constituted  natural  soils,  still 
the  effects  were  truly,  as  usually  considered,  only  for  a  limited 
time,  and  would  at  some  period  be  totally  lost ;  and  the  ground  so 
manured  would  return  to  the  same  state  of  less  productiveness,  as 
of  the  surrounding  land,  previously  equal,  and  which  had  received 
no  such  manuring.  Such  views  are  almost  universal ;  and  the  ut- 
most that  would  be  claimed  by  the  most  zealous  and  sanguine  ad- 
vocate for  extending  the  effect  of  such  manures,  would  be  a  protracted 
though  still  limited  and  temporary  duration  of  action.  And  the 
actual  results  would  always  accord  with  these  opinions,  (and  also 
with  my  theory  of  the  action  of  calcareous  manures),  both  on  good 
and  on  bad  soils,  before  making  them  more  calcareous.  All  natural 
soils  (not  excessively  and  injuriously  calcareous)  have  secured  by 
their  natural  powers  and  facilities,  and  have  had  fixed  in  them,  as 
much  alimentary  or  organic  matter  as  their  natural  ingredient  of 
lime  could  combine  with.  If  that  ingredient  had  been  very  small, 
the  soil  would  be  poor ;  if  large,  and  not  so  large  as  to  be  hurtful, 


DURATION   OP  ORGANIC   MANURES.  215 

then  the  soil  would  bo  rich.     But  in  neither  case  would  there  be    \ 
power  in  the  soil  to  combine  with  an  additional  supply  of  aliment-     \ 
ary  manure ;  and  if  such  were  applied,  it  would  be  exhausted  and 
pass  away,  rapidly  on  the  bad  soil,  and  more  slowly  on  the  good;    / 
but  certainly,  in  the  end,  on  both. 

Again,  suppose  the  soils  to  be  more  or  less  exhausted  by  scourg- 
ing cultivation.  Then  their  actual  amount  of  alimentary  matter  ' 
would  have  been  reduced  below  what  their  respective  shares  of 
lime  could  combine  with  and  retain,  under  a  state  of  nature,  or  of 
mild  tillage.  Then,  if  alimentary  manures  were  applied,  so  much 
as  was  required  for  combination  by  the  lime  present  would  be  as 
permanently  fixed  as  if  the  original  fertility  had  never  been  ab- 
stracted; and  any  additional  quantity  and  excess  of  manure,  not 
being  so  combined  and  fixed,  would  be  totally  lost  in  more  or  less 
time,  as  in  the  previously  supposed  case. 

Lest  these  propositions  may  not  appear,  because  of  their  novelty, 
perfectly  clear  and  unquestionable  to  every  reader,  an  illustration 
will  be  offered  which  can  scarcely  fail  to  induce  their  general  and 
read}'  admission.  Suppose  a  cultivator  to  have  two  fields,  one  of 
bad  and  poor  soil  naturally,  and  the  other  of  the  best  natural  qua- 
lity— and  both  having  been  brought  under  cultivation  together, 
and  kept  under  the  same  rotation  of  crops  and  other  management. 
Suppose  further  that  the  equal  and  uniform  course  of  cropping 
has  been  such  (whether  taking  one  or  two  or  three  grain  crop3  to 
one  year  of  rest  and  resuscitation),  that  both  fields  have  neither 
been  reduced  nor  increased  in  average  product,  since  brought  under 
regular  tillage ;  and  that  such  average  product,  when  of  corn,  is 
equal  to  10  bushels  per  acre  on  the  poor,  and  50  bushels  on  the 
rich  soil.  Now,  these  different  products  are  derived  from  the  dif- 
ferent funds  of  alimentary  and  putrescent  manure  originally  sup- 
plied to  the  soil  by  nature,  (which  were  just  so  much  as  the  lime 
of  each  soil  could  combine  with) ;  and,  under  the  supposed  degrees 
of  exaction  and  relief,  counteracting  each  other  under  tillage,  the 
same  rates  of  product  may  be  obtained  for  ever.  And  the  yielding 
of  50  bushels  by  the  one  soil  operates  no  more  to  reduce  its  after- 
power  of  production,  thjj(n  the  yield  of  the  other  of  but  one-fifth  of 
that  amount  of  crop.  The  yield  from  each  soil,  at  and  for  the  time, 
is  certainly  so  much  reduction  of  its  productive  power ;  but  the  re- 
cuperative power  of  each  (to  seize  upon  and  retain  new  supplies  for 
fertilization,  drawn  from  the  atmosphere,  and  from  the  grass  and 
weeds  grown  and  suffered  to  decay  on  the  land,)  is  in  proportion 
to  the  yield ;  and  the  vegetable  growth  serving  for  manure,  and 
atmospherical  influences,  during  a  year  of  rest,  will  continually 
give  to  the  good  soil  the  renewed  power  of  producing  again  its  large 
crop,  as  certainly  as  to  the  poor  soil  the  power  of  still  continuing 
to  produce  its  small  crop.     It  is  not  that  the  natural  alimentary 


>c  iKt 


Cf\%J 


216  DURATION  OF  ORGANIC  MANURES. 

manure  in  the  soil  is  not  taken  away  in  part,  by  the  growth  and 
removal  of  every  crop,  but  that  such  waste  is  continually  compen- 
sated by  new  acquisitions.  And  whether  such  new  supplies  of 
alimentary  matter  be  furnished  in  part  during  every  day,  or  in 
every  year,  or  only  during  the  one  term  of  rest  in  the  whole  course 
of  crops,  the  practical  result  is  the  same,  of  the  natural  or  original 
amount  of  alimentary  manure  remaining  finally  undiminished. 

So  far  as  to  the  absolute  permanency  of  putrescent  or  alimentary 
manures  supplied  by  nature.  Next  let  us  see  whether  the  same 
reasoning,  and  also  experience,  so  far  as  yet  obtained,  do  not  in 
like  manner  prove  the  permanency  of  putrescent  manures  applied 
after  calcareous  manures.  The  poor  soil  just  adduced  for  illustra- 
tion, while  having  its  natural  alimentary  ingredient  and  its  natural 
supply  of  lime  thus  balanced  and  proportioned  to  each  other,  was 
supposed  to  produce  at  the  rate  of  10  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre, 
and  to  remain  at  or  near  that  rate  of  productive  power.  Suppose 
then  marl  to  be  applied  in  such  quantity  as  would  give  enough  cal- 
careous earth  to  combine  with  twice  as  much  new  alimentary  mat- 
ter as  the  soil  before  held.  Suppose  further,  that  the  soil  so  marled 
is  not  left  to  draw  and  store  up  this  now  needed  stock  of  alimentary 
manure  by  its  newly  increased  power,  (and  as  would  be  done  in 
sufficient  time,  if  under  favourable  circumstances  of  tillage),  but 
that  so  much  putrescent  manure  is  applied  to  the  soil,  gradually 
and  judiciously,  as  can  be  combined  with  and  held  by  the  supply 
of  calcareous  earth  ;  and  that  such  addition  of  manure  gives  to  the 
soil  a  power  to  produce  30  bushels  of  corn.  As  soon  as  this  com- 
bination is  completely  made,  the  soil  is  in  precisely  the  same  con- 
dition as  to  its  newly  increased  rate  of  product  of  30  bushels,  as 
before  to  that  of  10  bushels ;  and  the  new  and  larger  supply  of 
putrescent  manure  must  be  as  permanent  as  was  the  natural  and 
smaller  supply. 

But  it  is  not  contended  that  the  mere  application  of  vegetable 
or  other  putrescent  manure,  under  such  circumstances,  secures  the 
permanency  of  effect  of  all  thus  applied,  but  only  of  so  much  as 
can  be  and  is  combined  with  the  calcareous  earth.  And  many  cir- 
cumstances may  and  do  usually  obstruct  the  immediate  and  com- 
plete combination  from  taking  place.  To  insure  the  perfect  and 
full  result,  the  intermixture  of  the  calcareous  and  the  putrescent 
matters,  and  in  due  proportions,  must  be  perfect,  and  no  excess  of 
the  latter  must  remain  anywhere  in  the  soil ;  the  putrescent  mat- 
ter must  also  be  in  the  particular  state  of  decomposition  (whatever 
that  may  be)  to  enter  into  combination  ;  and  moreover  there  must 
be  enough  and  equally  diffused  moisture,  without  which  no  chemi- 
cal combination  can  take  place.  Now,  as  some  and  probably  all 
these  conditions  must  necessarily  be  deficient  in  every  case  of  ap- 
plying putrescent  matters  to  marled  laud,  it  must  follow  that  much 


ORGANIC   MANURES   MADE   PERMANENT.  217 

of  the  manure  must  remain  uncombined  for  some  length  of  time ; 
and  during  that  time  is  as  liable  to  be  wasted  and  exhausted  as  if 
in  any  other  soil.  And  hence,  and  the  more  as  the  dressing  is 
lavish,  farm-yard  and  stable  manure  so  applied  must  be  expected  to 
yield  more  for  the  first  and  second  year,  while  the  excess  is  wasting, 
than  afterwards.  But  after  this  first  waste  and  exhaustion  has 
been  suffered,  whatever  of  the  manure  remains  to  the  soil,  say  for 
the  next  ensuing  rotation  at  latest,  must  be  fully  combined  with 
and  fixed  in  the  soil,  and  will  be  permanent  for  all  future  time, 
under  proper,  judicious,  and  also  the  most  profitable  course  of 
cropping.  This  first  waste  probably  cannot  be  entirely  prevented; 
but  it  can  be  much  lessened  by  care.  And  to  this  end,  putrescent 
manure  should  not  be  applied  heavily  at  once,  but  lightly,  and  re- 
peated subsequently,  and  should  be  well  scattered  and  equally  dif- 
fused over  the  ground.  Its  subsequent  decomposition  being  slow, 
and  the  products  being  gradually,  as  well  as  surely,  presented  to 
the  linie  diffused  previously  throughout  the  soil,  will  also  tend  to 
remove  as  much  as  possible  of  the  manure  from  the  condition  of 
being  fleeting  and  wasting,  to  that  of  being  fixed  and  permanent. 

Next  let  us  see  how  far  facts  and  experience  sustain  this  reason- 
ing. It  is  conceded  that  the  time  since  marling  was  commenced  in 
Virginia,  and  since  correct  views  of  the  action  of  calcareous  ma- 
nures were  entertained  and  acted  on  in  any  case,  has  been  too  short 
to  furnish  decisive  proofs.  But  so  far  as  accurate  facts  can  thus 
be  referred  to,  they  fully  sustain  the  foregoing  doctrine,  not  only 
of  the  permanency  of  calcareous  manures,  but  also  of  putrescent 
manures  in  combination  therewith.  Some  of  these  facts  will  bo 
mentioned  generally. 

However  much  in  accordance  with  the  theory  of  the  action  of 
calcareous  manures,  this  absolute  permanency  of  effect  given 
thereby  to  putrescent  manures  was  not  at  first  counted  on  or  ex- 
pected, and  was  not  known  until  it  was  forced  on  my  observation 
by  long-continued  results.  My  own  practice  is  not  only  the  oldest, 
but  is  all  that  I  can  refer  to  for  proofs.  And  until  all  my  marling 
was  completed,  and  indeed  for  some  time  after,  but  little  care  was 
used  by  me  to  make  and  apply  putrescent  manures.  This  culpa- 
ble neglect  was  the  result  of  the  habits  caused  by  the  disappoint- 
ments and  losses  experienced  in  manuring  long  before.  From  the 
same  ignorance  and  carelessness  in  this  respect,  no  experiments  on 
the  durability  of  putrescent  manures  were  made  until  long  after, 
and  then  injudiciously.  Thus,  in  experiments  4,  9,  and  11  (pp.  120, 
131,  134),  the  putrescent  manure  applied  was  in  quantity  much  too 
great  for  the  calcareous  earth  to  combine  with  at  once,  even  if  the 
recent  and  irregular  scattering  of  both  kinds  of  manure  had  not 
prevented  their  meeting  in  proper  proportions.  For  like  reasons,  of 
all  the  putrescent  manures  applied  on  the  farm,  and  since  larger 
19 


218  ACTUAL  DURATION   OF  EFFECTS. 

quantities  have  been  used,  there  is  much  more  of  early  than  con- 
tinned  effect.  Still,  so  far  as  known  and  believed,  there  is  always- 
more  or  less  of  abiding  effect,  and  which  I  infer  will  be  permanent. 
«  But  wider  scope  for  observation  has  been  afforded  in  the  increas- 
ing, productiveness  of  all  the  marled  lands,  kept  under  what  was 
deemed  not  too  frequent  tillage.  Neither  has  the  tillage  been  al- 
ways mild,  nor  the  rotation  uniform;  and  latterly  the  grain  crops 
have  been  made  more  frequent  than  before,  and  much  more  grazing 
permitted.*  Still,  even  where  no  prepared  putrescent  manures- 
have  ever  been  applied,  and  putrescent  matters  have  been  furnished 
only  from  the  growth  of  the  land  itself  during  its  share  of  rest  in 
each  course  of  crops,  there  has  been  a  regular  increase  of  produc- 
tiveness of  the  grain  crops,  in  every  successive  rotation. — [1842. J 
In  one  connected  clearing,  of  what  I  found  as  poor  forest  land, 
now  making  85  acres,  the  marling  was  commenced  in  1818,  and  has 
been  continued,  as  the  successive  clearings  extended,  to  1841. 
The  earliest  effects  of  the  applications  were  always  satisfactory, 
but  they  have  regularly  and  largely  increased  with  time.  Thus, 
when  under  the  last  crop  of  corn  (in  1839),  the  crop  on  the  last 
finished  marling,  though  perhaps  thereby  nearly  doubled  in  pro- 
duct, was  obviously  and  considerably  less  than  that  of  four  to  six 
years  earlier — that  again  as  inferior  to  that  of  the  marling  of  ten 
to  fifteen  years — and  the  crop  on  the  marling  of  1821  and  earlier, 
decidedly  the  best  of  all,  under  circumstances  otherwise  equal.  For 
the  limited  time  of  twenty-three  years,  and  without  any  careful  and 
accurate  experiment  or  observation  having  been  made  for  this  special 
object,  there  could  not  well  be  stronger  practical  proof  of  the  per- 
manency of  the  vegetable  manures  stored  up  by  the  marl. 

If  we  keep  in  mind  the  mode  by  which  calcareous  manure  acts, 
its  effects  may  be  anticipated  for  a  much  longer  time  than  my  ex- 
perience extends.  Let  us  trace  the  supposed  effects,  from  the 
causes,  on  an  acid  soil  kept  under  meliorating  culture.  As  soon 
as  applied,  the  calcareous  earth  combines  with  all  the  acid  then 
present,  and  to  that  extent  is  changed  to  the  humate  and  other 
vegetable  salts  of  lime.  The  remaining  calcareous  earth  continues 
to  take  up  the  after  formations  of  acid,  and  (together  with  the 
salts  so  produced)  to  fix  putrescent  manures,  as  fast  as  these  sub- 
stances are  presented,  until  all  the  lime  has  been  combined  with 
acid,  and  all  their  product  is  combined  with  putrescent  matter. 
Both  those  actions  then  cease.  During  all  the  time  necessary  for 
those  changes,  the  soil  has  been  regularly  increasing  in  productive- 
ness ;  and  it  may  be   supposed  that,  before  their  completion,  the 

*  The  land,  howeTer  much  improved  in  richness  by  being  secured  from 
grazing  so  long,  had  in  consequence  become  too  "puffy"  for  ■wheat,  an  1 
also  full  of  insects  and  bad  weeds ;  for  all  which  grazing  at  some  proper 
time  of  the  rotation  is  beneficial,  and  indeed  essential. 


SUPPOSED   PROGRESS   OF  ACTION.  219 

product  had  risen  from  ten  to  thirty  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre. 
The  soil  has  thou  become  neutral.  It  can  never  lose  its  ability 
(under  the  mild  rotation  supposed)  of  producing  thirty  bushels; 
but  it  has  no  power  to  rise  above  that  product.  Vegetable  food 
for  plants  continues  to  form,  but  is  mostly  wasted,  because  the 
salts  of  lime  are  already  combined  with  as  much  as  they  can  art 
on  ;  and  whatever  excess  of  vegetable  matter  remains  in  the  soil, 
is  kept  useless  by  acid  also  newly  formed,  and  left  free  and  noxious 
as  before  the  application  of  calcareous  earth.  But  though  this 
excess  of  acid  may  balance  and  keep  useless  the  excess  of  vegeta- 
ble matter,  it  cannot  ail'cct  the  previously  fixed  fertility,  nor  lessen 
the  power  of  the  soil  to  yield  its  then  maximum  product  of  thirty 
bushels.  In  this  state  of  thing3,  sorrel  may  again  begin  to  grow, 
and  its  return  maybe  taken  as  notice  that  a  new  marling  is  needed, 
and  will  afford  additional  profit,  in  the  same  manner  as  before,  by 
destroying  the  last  formed  acid,  and  fixing  the  last  supply  of  vege- 
table matter.  Thus  perhaps  five  or  ten  bushels  more  may  be 
added  to  the  previous  product,  and  a  power  given  to  the  soil  gra- 
dually to  increase  as  much  more,  before  it  will  stop  again  for 
similar  reasons,  at  a  second  maximum  product  of  forty  or  fifty 
bushels.  I  pretend  not  to  fix  the  time  necessary  for  the  completion 
of  one  or  more  of  these  gradual  changes ;  but  as  the  termination 
of  each,  and  the  consequent  additional  marling,  will  add  new  pro- 
fits, they  ought  to  be  desired  by  the  farmer,  instead  of  his  wishing 
that  his  first  labour  of  marling  each  acre  may  also  be  the  last  re- 
cpiired.  Every  permanent  "addition  of  five  bushels  of  corn,  to  the 
previous  average  crop,  will  more  than  repay  the  heaviest  expenses 
that  have  yet  been  encountered  in  marling.  But  whether  a  second 
application  of  marl  is  made  or  not,  I  cannot  imagine  such  a  con- 
sequence, under  judicious  tillage,  as  the  actual  decrease  of  the 
product  once  obtained.  My  earliest  marled  land  has  been  severely 
cropped,  compared  to  the  rotation  supposed  above,  and  yet  has 
continued  to  improve,  though  at  a  slow  rate.  The  part  first  mailed, 
in  1818,  had  only  four  years  of  rest  in  the  next  fifteen;  and 
yielded  nine  crops  of  grain,  one  of  cotton,  and  one  year  clover 
twice  mowed.  This  piece,  however,  besides  being  sown  with 
gypsum  (with  little  benefit),  once  received  a  light  cover  of  rotted 
corn-stalk  manure.  The  balance  of  the  same  piece  of  laud  (Exp. 
1)  was  marled  for  the  crop  of  1821 — has  borne  the  same  treat- 
ment since,  and  has  had  no  other  manure,  except  gypsum  once 
(given  in  the  natural  gypseous  earth  found  on  the  farm),*  in  1830, 
which  acted  well.  These  periods  of  twelve  and  fifteen  years  (even 
though  now  extended  to  and  confirmed  by  nine  years  more  of  ex- 
perience) arc  very  short  to  serve  as  grounds  to  decide    <  n    the 

*Sec  accounts  of  this  bed  of  "gypseous  earth"  in  vol.  1  of  Farmers' 
Register,  an<]  of  its  effects,  iu  success  ami  failure,  in  vol.  10. 


220  THE   EXHAUSTION   OF   CALXED   LAND. 

eternal  duration  of  a  manure.  But  it  can  scarcely  be  believed 
that  the  effect  of  any  temporary  manure,  would  not  have  been 
somewhat  abated  by  such  a  course  of  severe  tillage.  Under  milder 
treatment,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  would  have  been  much 
greater  improvement. — [1^42.] 

If  subjected  to  a  long  course  of  the  most  severe  cultivation,  a 
soil  could  not  by  such  course  alone  be  deprived  of  its  calcareous 
ingredient,  whether  natural  or  artificial :  but  though  still  calcare- 
ous, it  would  be,  in  the  end,  reduced  to  barrenness,  by  the  exhaus- 
tion of  its  vegetable  matter.  Under  the  usual  system  of  exhaust- 
ing cultivation,  marl  certainly  improves  the  product  of  acid  soils, 
and  may  continue  to  add  to  the  previous  amount  of  crop,  for  a 
considerable  time ;  yet  the  theory  of  its  action  instructs  us,  that 
the  ultimate  result  of  marling,  under  such  circumstances,  must  be 
the  more  complete  destruction  of  the  land,  by  enabling  it  to  yield 
all  its  vegetable  food  to  growing  plants,  which  would  have  been 
prevented  by  the  continuance  of  its  former  acid  state.  An  acid 
soil  yielding  only  five  bushels  of  corn  may  contain  enough  food  for 
plants  to  bring  fifteen  bushels  ;  and  its  production  will  be  raised 
to  that  mark,  as  soon  as  marling  sets  free  its  dormant  powers.  But 
a  calcareous  soil  reduced  to  a  product  of  five  bushels,  can  furnish 
food  for  no  more ;  and  nothing  but  an  expensive  application  of 
putrescent  manures  can  render  it  worth  the  labour  of  cultivation. 
Thus  it  is,  that  soils,  the  improvement  of  which  is  the  most  hope- 
less without  calcareous  manures,  will  be  the  most  certainly  im- 
proved with  profit  by  their  use. 


CHAPTER  XXm. 

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  VALUATIONS  OF  LANDS  AND 
THEIR  IMPROVEMENTS,  AND  THE  EXPENSES  AND  PROFITS  OF 
MARLING. 

Proposition  5 — concluded. 

At  this  time  there  are  but  few  persons  among  us  who  doubt  the 
great  benefit  to  be  derived  from  the  use  of  marl;  and  many  of 
those  who  formerly  deemed  the  early  practice  the  result  of  folly, 
and  a  fit  subject  for  ridicule,  now  give  that  manure  credit  for  vir- 
tues which  it  certainly  does  not  possess ;  and,  from  their  manner 
of  applying  it,  seem  to  believe  it  a  universal  cure  for  sterility. 
Such  erroneous  views  have  been  a  principal  cause  of  the  many 
injudicious   and   even   injurious  applications  of   marl.     It   is  as 


ESTIMATING  VALUES   OF  LAND.  221 

necessary  to  moderate  the  ill-founded  expectations  which  many 
entertain,  as  to  excite  the  too  fechlc  hopes  of  others.* 

The  great  improvement  of  land  and  its  products,  to  he  caused  by 
marling,  and  its  long  duration,  if  not  absolute  permanency,  have 
been  established,  I  trust,  beyond  question,  by  the  foregoing  argu- 
ment and  proofs.  Still,  any  degree  of  improvement  may  be  paid 
for  too  dearly  ;  and  the  propriety  of  the  practice  must  depend  on 
the  amount  of  its  clear  profits,  ascertained  by  fair  estimates  of  the 
expenses  incurred. 

With  those  who  attempt  any  calculations  of  this  kind,  it  is  very 
common  to  set  out  on  the  mistaken  ground  that  the  expense  of 
marling  should  bear  some  proportion  to  the  selling  price  of  the 
land;  and  without  in  the  least  underrating  the  effects  of  marl, 
they  conclude  that  the  improvement  cannot  justify  an  expense  of 
six  dollars  on  an  acre  of  land  that  would  not  previously  sell  for 
four  dollars.  Such  a  conclusion  would  be  correct  if  the  land  were 
held  as  an  article  for  sale,  and  intended  to  be  disposed  of  as  soon 
as  possible ;  as  the  expense  in  that  case  might  not  be  returned  in 
immediate  profit,  and  certainly  would  not  be  added  to  the  price  of 
the  land  by  the  purchaser,  under  present  circumstances.  But  if 
the  land  is  held  as  a  possession  of  any  permanency,  its  previous 
price,  or  its  subsequent  valuation,  has  no  bearing  whatever  on  the 
amount  which  it  may  be  profitable  to  expend  for  its  improvement. 
Land  that  sells  at  four  dollars,  is  often  too  dear  at  as  many  cents, 
because  its  product  will  not  pay  the  expense  of  cultivation.  But 
if  by  laying  out  for  the  improvement  ten  dollars,  or  even  one 
hundred  dollars  to  the  acre,  the  average  increased  annual  profit 
would  certainly  and  permanently  be  worth  ten  per  cent,  on  that 
cost  of  improvement,  then  the  expenditure  would  be  highly  expe- 
dient and  profitable.  We  are  so  generally  influenced  by  a  rage  for 
extending  our  domain,  that  another  farm  is  often  bought,  stocked, 
and  cultivated,  when  a  liberal  estimate  of  its  expected  products, 
would  not  show  an  annual  clear  profit  of  three  per  cent.  :  and  any 
one  would  mortgage  his  estate  to  buy  another  thousand  acres,  that 
was  supposed  fully  capable  of  yielding  ten  per  cent,  on  its  price. 
Yet  the  advantage  would  be  precisely  the  same,  if  the  principal 
money  was  used  to  enrich  the  land  already  in  possession  (without 
regard  to  its  extent,  or  previous  value),  with  equal  assurance  of  its 
yielding  the  same  amount  of  profit. 

Nothing  is  more  general,  or  has  had  a  worse  influence  on  the 
state  of  agriculture,  than  the  desire  to  extend  our  cultivation  and 
landed  possessions.  One  of  the  consequences  of  this  disposition 
has  been  to  give  an  artificial  value  to  the  poorest  land,  considered 

*  This  introductory  paragraph  -was  prepared  for  and  first  appeared  in  tho 
edition  of  1832,  to  -which  time  it  was  especially  applicable. 
19* 


222  TRUE   MODE  OF   ESTIMATION. 

merely  as  so  much  territory,  while  various  causes  have  concurred 
to  depress  the  price  of  all  good  soils  much  below  their  real  worth. 
Whatever  a  farm  will  sell  for,  fixes  its  market  value  ;  but  by  no 
means  is  it  a  fair  measure  of  its  value  as  permanent  farming 
capital. 
/*  The  true  value  of  land,  and  also  of  any  permanent  improve- 
ments to  land,  I  would  estimate  in  the  following  manner  :  Ascer- 
tain as  nearly  as  possible  the  average  clear  and  permanent  annual 
income,  and  the  land  is  worth  as  much  money  as  would  securely 
yield  that  amount  of  income,  in  the  form  of  interest — which  may 
be  considered  as  worth  six  per  cent.  For  example,  if  a  field  brings 
ten  dollars  average  value  of  crops  to  the  acre,  in  the  course  of  a 
four-shift  rotation,  and  the  average  expense  of  every  kind  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  the  cultivation  is  also  ten  dollars,  then  the  land 
yields  no  clear  profit,  and  is  worth  nothing.  If  the  average  clear 
profit  was  but  two  dollars  and  forty  cents  in  the  term,  or  only  sixty 
cents  a  year,  it  would  raise  the  value  of  the  land  to  ten  dollars ; 
and  if  six  dollars  could  be  made  annually,  clear  of  all  expense,  it 
is  equally  certain  that  one  hundred  dollars  would  be  the  fair  value 
of  the  acre.  Yet  if  lands  of  precisely  these  rates  of  profit  were 
offered  for  sale  at  this  time,  the  poorest  would  probably  sell  for 
four  dollars,  and  the  richest  for  less  than  twenty  dollars.  In  like 
manner,  if  any  field,  that  paid  the  expense  of  cultivation  before, 
has  its  average  annual  net  product  increased  six  dollars  for  each 
acre,  by  some  permanent  improvement,  the  value  thereby  added  to 
the  field  is  one  hundred  dollars  the  acre,  without  regard  to  its  for- 
mer worth.  Let  the  cost  and  value  of  marling  be  compared  by 
this  rule,  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  capital  laid  out  in  that  mode 
of  improvement  will  seldom  return  an  annual  interest  of  less  than 
twenty  per  cent. — that  it  will  more  often  reach  to  forty — and  in 
very  many  cases  will  exceed  one  hundred  per  cent,  of  annual  and 
permanent  interest  on  the  investment,  or  total  cost  of  the  marling. 
The  application  of  this  rule  for  the  valuation  of  such  improve- 
ments will  raise  them  to  so  large  an  amount,  that  the  magnitude 
of  the  sum  may  be  deemed  a  sufficient  contradiction  of  my  esti- 
mates. But  before  this  mode  of  estimating  values  is  rejected, 
merely  for  the  supposed  absurdity  of  an  acid  soil  being  considered 
as  raised  from  one  dollar,  or  nothing,  to  thirty  dollars,  or  more, 
per  acre,  by  a  single  marling,  let  it  at  least  be  examined,  and  if 
erroneous,  its.fallacy  exposed. 

If  the  reader  will  accompany  me  through  some  detailed  estimates 
of  values,  and  arithmetical  calculations,  in  regard  to  the  grounds 
of  which  we  cannot  differ,  the  truth  of  the  results  which  I  claim 
will  be  made  manifest,  however  startling  and  monstrous  they  may 
appear  to  some  persons  at  first  glance. 

Assuming  as  sound  and  unquestionable  the  grounds  for  cstiniat- 


TRUE    MODE    OF   ESTIMATION.  223 

ing  the  intrinsic  value  of  lands,  as  stated  generally  above,  let  us 
illustrate  the  position  more  particularly.  The  principle  of  valua- 
tion is  that  the  land  is  worth  to  its  proprietor  and  cultivator  such 
sum  of  money  as  would  yield  in  annual  interest  the  same  amount 
as  the  net  annual  product  of  the  land,  after  paying  for  all  labour, 
attention,  expenses,  and  risks.  Further,  to  simplify  the  calculation, 
and  also  to  suit  the  course  of  culture  to  the  more  general  practice 
of  the  country,  let  us  suppose  the  land  in  question  to  be  cultivated 
under  the  ordinary  three-shift  rotation,  of  1st,  corn,  2d,  wheat  (or 
oats),  3d,  at  rest,  with  no  grazing  when  the  laud  is  poor,  and  with 
but  partial  and  moderate  grazing  (or  mowing  of  clover)  when  im- 
proved or  rich. 

Then  suppose  a  field  of  the  poor  and  thin  soil  most  common  in 
lower  Virginia,  under  this  treatment  for  some  years  previously,  to 
produce,  on  the  general  average,  10  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre, 
anil  five  bushels  of  wheat,  or  its  equivalent  value  of  oats;  and  tho 
value  of  the  corn,  at  the  barn,  to  be  50  cents  the  bushel,  and  of 
the  wheat  SI.  And  let  the  joint  and  total  expenses  of  preparation, 
tillage,  seed,  harvesting,  thrashing,  &c.,  for  market  (or  for  home 
use),  and  of  superintendence  and  care  of  both  the  corn  and  wheat 
or  oat  crops,  be  counted  as  being  over  and  above  the  value  of  the 
offal  (stalks,  straw,  &c.)  of  the  crops,  by  810  for  the  two  years. 
Then  the  full  statement  will  be  as  follows : 

First  year,  product  in  corn  per  acre,  10  bushels,  at  50  cents  .  §5 
Second  year,  wheat,  5  bushels,  at  81  .  .  .  .  .5 
Third  year,  no  crop  or  money  product,  and  no  expense  .         .       0 


Total  product  of  the  three  years'  rotation      ....  810 
■Cost  of  cultivation,  &c,  of  the  crops  .         .         .         .         .10 

Net  profit 00 

However  wretched  may  be  the  foregoing  exhibition  of  products, 
it  will  be  admitted  to  be  abundantly  liberal  by  all  persons  ac- 
quainted with  lower  and  middle  Virginia,  for  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  the  cultivated  lands.  Yet  such  lands  might  sell  at  prices 
varying  from  83  to  8G  the  acre;  and  that  without  a  view  to  their 
being  improved,  and  even  before  calcareous  manures  were  thought 
of  as  means  for  improvement.  Yet  the  conclusion  is  evident,  that 
such  laud,  no  matter  what  may  be  its  then  selling  price,  (or  specu- 
lative appreciation  sometimes  caused  by  the  effects  of  paper-money 
and  fraudulent  bank  issues),  is  worth  not  one  cent  for  cultivation, 
or  for  the  benefit  of  the  proprietor  and  cultivator. 

Next,  suppose  the  laud  in  question  to  be  properly  marled,  and 
at  the  unusually  heavy  expense  of  87  the  acre.  This  rate  is  more 
than  double  the  usual  expense  for  a  full  and  sufficient  dressing, 
when  the  marl  is  obtained  on  the  farm  where  applied.    Suppose 


224         ESTIMATED  VALUES  FROM  CALXIXO. 

also  that  the  increase  of  products,  as  shown  in  the  second  course 
of  the  rotation  (beginning  three  years  after  the  application),  is 
equal  to  100  per  cent,  on  the  production  previous  to  marling.  This 
estimate  is  quite  low  enough,  as  all  experience  has  shown.  Upon 
such  land,  and  so  treated,  this  degree  of  increase  may  very  often 
be  obtained  upon  the  first  crop  of  the  first  course ;  and,  even  if  no 
auxiliary  means  of  enriching  be  afterwards  used,  the  rate  of  in- 
crease will  be  more  and  more  for  each  of  sundry  succeeding  courses 
of  crops  thereafter.  Then  let  us  test  the  value  of  the  returns  by 
figures  as  before : 

First  year,  product  in  corn  per  acre,  20  bushels,  at  50  cents  .  810 
Second  year,  wheat,  10  bushels,  at  81  .         .         .  .         .10 

Third  year,  clover,  most  of  it  left  as  manure  to  the  land,  and 
no  present  pecuniary  profit  counted  here  .         .         .         .00 


20 
Total  expenses  of  cultivation,  &c.;  as  before,  in  two  years      .     10 


Net  product,  or  clear  profit  of  cultivation  in  the  term  of  three 

years S10 

This  is  all  so  much  increase  of  net  annual  product  upon  the  pre- 
vious rate  j  and  the  amount,  83.33  yearly,  is  the  interest  (at  6  per 
cent.)  of  something  more  than  a  capital  of  855.  And  therefore, 
according  to  these  grounds  of  estimate,  855  per  acre  is  the  imrease 
of  intrinsic  value  given  to  the  land  by  marling  alone,  or  848  the 
clear  gain  made  by  the  operation,  after  deducting  87  paid  for  the 
marling  of  the  land ;  and  this  without  regard  to  what  might  have 
been  its  previous  intrinsic  value,  or  its  former  or  its  more  recent 
market  price.  The  more  rigidly  this  mode  of  estimate  is  scruti- 
nized, the  more  manifestly  true  will  be  found  the  results.  The 
premises  assumed,  in  the  supposed  effects  and  profits  of  marling, 
will  not  be  objected  to  (unless  as  being  too  low)  by  any  person 
who  is  well  informed  by  practice  and  experience. 

But  there  is  one  important  apparent  omission  of  a  proper  charge 
in  the  last  statement  of  expenses.  This  is  the  increase  of  labour 
of  tillage,  harvesting,  &c,  caused  by  the  crop  being  doubled  in 
quantity.  This  is  certainly  a  fair  ground  of  charge ;  and,  if  esti- 
mated alone,  would  serve  to  reduce  considerably  the  statement  of 
increased  net  product,  and  consequently  of  increased  value  of  land. 
But  there  were  also  omitted  sundry  items  of  increased  production, 
which  together  would  undoubtedly  much  more  than  compensate  for 
the  increase  of  labour  in  tilling  a  deeper  and  richer  soil,  and  in 
harvesting,  removing,  and  preparing  for  sale  or  use,  a  double  quan- 
tity of  crops.  These  items  of  gain  are,  first,  the  additional  offal, 
in  corn-stalks,  fodder,  and  shucks,  and  wheat  or  oat  straw  and 
chaff;  second,  the  limited  proportion  of  clover  grazed  or  mowed ; 


ESTIMATED   VALUES   OF   LANDS.  225 

and  third",  the  further  gradual  increase  of  crops,  in  subsequent 
time.  Probably  the  first  class  of  items  alone  would  balance  the 
increased  expense  of  labour;  if  not,  the  addition  of  the  second 
(the  clover)  certainly  would  be  enough.  And  if  that  be  doubted, 
the  subsequent  annual  increase  upon  the  first  doubling  of  the  crops 
(which  only  is  estimated  above)  will  not  only  furnish  a  fund  to 
meet  any  such  deficiency,  but  also  will  greatly,  and  beyond  any 
calculation  here  attempted,  augment  the  whole  profit  of  marling, 
and  consequently  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  land  to  the  proprietor. 

I  admit  the  practical  difficulty  of  applying  this  rule  for  estimat- 
ing the  value  of  land,  or  of  its  improvement,  however  certain  may 
be  its  theoretical  truth.  It  is  not  possible  to  fix  on  the  precise 
clear  annual  profit  of  any  farm  to  its  owner  and  cultivator;  and 
any  error  made  in  these  premises  is  increased  sixteen  and  two-third 
times  in  the  estimate  of  value  founded  on  them.  Still  we  may  ap- 
proximate the  truth  most  nearly  by  using  this  guide.  The  early 
increase  of  crops  from  marling  will,  in  most  cases,  be  a  full  equal 
increase  of  clear  profit,  (for  the  subsequent  improvement  and  the 
additional  offal  will  surejy  pay  for  the  increase  of  labour);  and  it 
is  not  very  difficult  to  fix  a  value  for  that  actual  increase  of  crop, 
and  thereby  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  improvement,  as  newly 
created  farming  capital.* 

This  mode  of  valuing  land,  under  a  different  form,  is  univer- 
sally received  as  correct  in  England.  Cultivation  there  is  carried 
on  almost  entirely  by  tenants ;  and  the  annual  rent  which  any 
farm  brings,  on  a  long  lease,  fixes  beyond  question  what  is  its  an- 
nual clear  profit  to  the  owner.  The  price,  or  value  of  land,  is 
generally  estimated  at  so  many  "years'  purchase,"  which  means  as 
many  years'  rent  as  will  return  the  purchaser's  money.  There,  the 
interest  of  money  being  lower,  increases  the  value  of  land  accord- 
ing to  this  mode  of  estimation ;  and  it  is  generally  sold  as  high  as 
twenty  years'  purchase.  My  estimate  is  less  favourable  for  raising 
the  value  of  our  lands,  as  it  fixes  them  at  sixteen  and  two-thirds 
years'  purchase,  according  to  our  higher  rate  of  interest  on  money. 

But  though  this  rule  for  estimating  the  true  value  of  land,  and 
of  the  improvements  made  by  marling,  may  be  unquestionable  in 
theory,  still  a  practical  objection  will  be  presented  by  the  well 
known  fact  that  the  income  and  profits  of  farmers  are  not  usually 
increased  in  proportion  to  such  supposed  values  of  improvements, 
nor  is  there  found  such  a  vast  disproportion,  as  this  rule  of  estimat- 
ing values  would  show,  between  the  profits  of  the  tillers  of  poor 
and  of  rich  lands.     These  positions  are  admitted  to  be   generally 

*  No  degree  of  uncertainty  in  the  application,  however,  detracts  from  the 
truth  of  this  rule.  For  if  the  annual  average  net  profit  derived  from  marl- 
ing be  considered  as  an  unknown  quantity,  {x),  it  is  not  therefore  the  less 
ccrtaiu  that  x  X  1G§  =  the  increased  intrinsic  value  of  the  land. 


( 


VALVES  OF  IMPROVED  LANDS. 

■well  founded — but  it  is  denied  that  they  invalidate  the  previous 
estimates.  A  farmer  may,  and  generally  does,  obtain  less  gross 
product  from  a  large  or  a  rich  farm,  than  his  more  necessitous,  and 
therefore  more  attentive  and  economical  neighbour  gets  from  a 
smaller  or  poorer  farm,  in  proportion  to  the  producing  power  of 
each;  and  even  the  same  persons,  •when  young  and  needy,  have 
often  made  more  profit  according  to  their  means,  than  afterwards 
when  relieved  from  want,  and  having  lands  increased  to  a  double 
power  of  production.  These,  and  similar  facts  however  general, 
are  only  examples  of  the  obvious  truth,  that  the  profits  of  land 
depend  principally  on  the  industry,  economy,  and  good  manage- 
ment of  the  cultivator ;  and  that  many  a  farmer,  who  can  manage 
well  a  small  or  poor  farm,  is  more  deficient  in  industry,  economy, 
or  the  increased  degree  of  knowledge  required,  when  possessed  of 
much  more  abundant  resources.  In  short,  if  these  considerations 
were  to  direct  or  influence  our  estimates,  we  should  not  be  compar- 
ing and  estimating  the  value  of  lands,  but  the  value  of  the  care 
and  industry  bestowed  on  their  management  by  their  proprietors. 

Another  objector  may  ask,  "  If  any  poor  land  is  raised  in 
intrinsic  value  (according  to  this  estimate)  from  one  dollar  to 
thirty,  by  marling,  would  a  purchaser  make  a  judicious  investment 
of  his  capital,  by  buying  this  improved  land  at  thirty  dollars  V*  I 
would  answer  in  the  affirmative,  if  the  view  was  confined  to  this 
particular  means  of  investing  farming  capital.  The  purchaser 
would  get  a  clear  interest  of  sis  per  cent.,  which  has  always  been 
deemed  a  good  return  from  land,  and  is  twice  as  much  as  all  lower 
Virginia  now  yields,  on  a  general  average  of  the  unimproved  lands. 
But  if  such  a  purchase  is  compared  with  other  means  of  acquiring 
land  so  improved,  it  would  be  extremely  injudicious;  because 
thirty  dollars  expended  in  purchasing  and  marling  suitable  laud, 
\  would  serve  both  to  acquire  and  improve,  to  as  high  a  value,  fivo 
or  six  acres. 

The  immense  quantity  of  rich  and  low-priced  land  held  for  sale 
by  our  government,  and  always  in  market,  and  the  flood  of  emi- 
gration thereby  drawn  from  the  old  states,  and  especially  from 
Virginia,  have  served  more  than  all  other  causes  to  depress  the 
selling  prices  of  our  lands,  and  to  discourage  their  being  improved. 
So  long  as  rich  land  can  be  bought  in  any  quantity  for  $1.25  tho 
acre,  though  it  may  be  under  forest  growth,  and  on  the  frontier  of 
civilization,  there  will  be  thousands  of  improvident  or  adventurous 
landholders  in  the  old  states  always  striving  to  sell  their  impover- 
ished farms,  and  to  buy  new  settlements  in  the  west — rather  than 
resort  to  what  they  deem  the  slow  and  costly  means  for  restoring 
or  increasing  fertility.  And  though  very  many  others  now  believe 
that  it  is  far  more  profitable  to  improve  their  own  poor  land  than 
to  emigrate  to  new  and  rich — and  act  upon  that  belief  in  buying 


CAUSE   OF   LOW   PRICES   OP  LANDS.  227 

to  improve,  as  well  as  improving  the  land  held  previously — still 
their  very  limited  numbers  and  action  can  go  but  little  way  to 
lessen  the  excess  of  supply  of  land  offered  for  sale,  over  the  exist- 
ing demand  of  purchasers.  We  all  know  that  a  great  excess  of 
supply  over  demand  of  any  commodity,  no  matter  how  essential 
for  the  use  or  even  existence  of  the  consumers,  is  enough  to  rcduco 
the  market  price  to  almost  any  extent.  Even  in  regard  to  corn, 
which  every  man  requires  for  sustaining  life,  and  which  will  be 
wanting  by  every  one,  in  certain  and  known  quantity,  for  the  next 
;is  well  as  the  present  year,  still  a  great  excess  of  supply  may  re- 
duce the  price  of  this  most  indispensable  commodity  to  one-third, 
or  even  one-tenth,  of  what  it  may  command  when  the  demand  as 
greatly  exceeds  the  supply.  The  market  price  of  Indian  corn  in 
Virginia,  where  it  is  the  principal  grain  consumed  by  both  man 
and  beast,  has  frequently,  within  a  few  years'  time,  ranged  from 
40  to  100  cents  the  bushel,  according  to  the  preponderance  of 
supply  and  demand.  Indeed,  within  my  farming  life,  it  has  sold 
as  low  as  20  cents ;  and  at  another  time,  at  $2  the  bushel.  No 
matter  what  may  be  deemed  the  intrinsic  value  of  any  commodity, 
no  buyer  will  pay  for  it  even  half  that  rate,  so  long  as  eager  or 
necessitous  sellers  offer  the  like  to  him  for  a  fourth,  or  for  less. 
So  it  is  with  our  land.  Such  considerations,  and  the  existing  state 
of  our  land  market,  may  (and  ought  to)  operate  to  prevent  a  buyer 
from  paying  as  much  as  $10  for  the  land  which  under  different 
circumstances  of  market  price  he  would  gladly  buy  at  $50.  Yet 
in  both  cases  of  prices  so  different,  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  land, 
and  also  its  net  product,  might  be  the  same. 

The  excess  of  supply  over  demand  not  only  serves  to  depress  the 
selling  prices  of  both  good  and  improvable  lands  greatly  below 
their  true  and  productive  value,  but  also  it  acts  with  much  force  to 
repress  the  desire  for  and  prevent  the  results  of  improving  the 
land  in  possession.  For  whatever  may  be  the  productive  value  of 
any  improvements  of  land,  they  must  be  estimated  and  depreciated 
in  market  price  by  the  same  law  of  supply  and  demand  as  deter- 
mines the  selling  prices  of  other  lands  of  like  value.  Many  par-  \ 
ticular  farms  in  lower  Virginia,  by  marling,  have  been  doubled  in 
gross  product,  and  thereby,  perhaps,  increased  ten-fold  in  net  pro- 
duct and  in  true  intrinsic  value.  And  yet,  when  the  death  of  the 
proprietor,  and  the  consequent  division  of  his  estate,  or  other  causey, 
have  compelled  the  sale  of  such  a  farm,  the  additional  price  ob- 
tained over  the  market  estimation  before  marling,  perhaps  has  not 
paid  even  the  small  cost  of  that  improvement.  Hence  arises  a 
great  discouragement,  at  this  time,  to  all  improvement  of  land  in 
Virginia,  which  acts  not  only  on  those  proprietors  who  look  forward 
to  a  future  sale  of  their  farms,  but  also  on  most  other  persons  who 
have  no  such  expectations. 


223  INJUDICIOUS   MAULING   LABOURS. 

But  the  principal  discouragement  to  the  proper  extension  of 
marling  proceeds  from  the  erroneous  and  exaggerated  estimates  of 
the  difficulty  and  cost.  Estimates  of  the  expenses  required  for 
marling  are  commonly  erected  on  as  improper  grounds,  as  those  of 
its  prohts.  "We  never  calculate  the  cost  of  any  old  practice.  "We 
/are  content  to  clear  wood-land  that  afterwards  will  not  pay  for  the 
expense  of  tillage  ;  to  keep  under  the  plough,  land  reduced  to  five 
bushels  of  corn'to  the  acre;  to  build  and  continue  to  repair  miles 
of  useless  and  perishable  fences ;  to  make  farm-yard  manure 
(though  not  much  of  this  fault),  and  apply  it  to  acid  soils ;  with- 
out once  calculating  whether  we  lose  or  gain  by  any  of  these  opera- 
tions. But  let  any  new  practice  be  proposed,  and  then  every  one 
begins  to  count  its  cost ;  and  on  such  erroneous  premises,  that  if 
applied  to  every  kind  of  farm  labour,  the  estimate  would  prove 
that  the  most  fertile  land  known  could  scarcely  defray  the  expenses 
of  its  cultivation. 

The  usual  injudicious  modes  of  conducting  marling  operations 
have  served  greatly  to  increase  the  actual  cost.  Some  farmers, 
even  after  some  years  of  such  work  and  experience,  still  waste 
nearly  or  quite  half  their  labour  so  employed.  Many  new  begin- 
ners, by  their  greater  mismanagement  and  consequent  loss,  are  so 
discouraged  as  to  be  stopped  almost  at  the  very  outset.  Thus,  a 
little,  but  insufficient  amount  of  experience  in  marling,  is  likely  to 
magnify  the  supposed  difficulties.  By  such  deficiency  of  judgment 
and  economy  in  directing  and  executing  the  labours,  marling  is 
often  made  very  costly.  But  so  it  would  be,  without  information 
or  experience,  with  any  other  new  farming  operation.  It  is  a 
in  this  as  in  any  other  business  to  work  judiciously  and  economi- 
cally; and  if  so  conducted,  marling  (or  liming),  where  properly 
available,  will  be  found  the  cheapest  as  well  as  the  most  productive 
means  for  fertilization. 

The  expenses  of  particular  operations  of  marling,  or  liming, 
have  been,  and  of  others  may  be,  easily  and  correctly  ascertained. 
So  have  been,  and  may  be,  the  early  products  and  pro- 
bable abiding  profits  of  particular  applications.  But  these  two 
actual  results  cannot  be  fairly  combined,  so  as  to  indicate  in 
general  the  balance  of  profit  exceeding  the  expense.  For  the 
measure  of  increased  product  is  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of 
marl  applied,  and  the  previous  want  of  the  land  for  the  application  ; 
and  not  to  the  expense  of  that  application.  It  may  happen  that 
the  most  expensive  marling  may  be  on  land  so  little  requiring  that 
improvement,  or  so  little  fitted  to  receive  such  improvement,  that 
but  small  benefit  is  produced.  In  other  cases,  where  the  expense 
of  marling  is  the  least,  because  of  great  facilities,  the  benefit  to  the 
land  may  be  the  greatest.  In  the  former  case,  of  maximum  labour 
and  minimum  increase  of  production,  the  net  profit  of  the  marling 


CoSTri   OF   ACTUAL   MAHUNUS.  229 

might  not  exceed  10  per  cent,  per  annum,  on  the  cost — (though  I 
have  never  known  so  little,  from  any  proper  application).     In  the 
latter  case,  of  minimum  expense  and  maximum  effect  of  marling, 
the  net  profit  might  be  200  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  cost.    Most 
operations  would  be  much  within  these  extreme  results.     In  much\ 
the  greater  number  of  cases  of  my  own  labours,  and  of  all  others  \ 
which  have  come  under  my  personal   observation,  and  were  con-    | 
ducted  and  applied  with  ordinary  judgment,  the  net  profits  have 
not  fallen  short  of  50  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  expense,  for  thc_ 
whole  time  which  has  elapsed  since  the  application.     How  long 
such  operation  may  continue,  and  whether  increasing  or  decreasing, 
I  leave  to  be  inferred  from   the  preceding  facts  and  reasoning,  in 
regard  to  the  duration  of  the  effects  of  calcareous  manures.     The 
grounds  of  this  belief  have  been   already  in   part   submitted,  in 
sundry  statements  of  particular  products,  the  results  of  particular 
applications.     The  expenses  of  particular  and  large  marling  opera- 
tions have  been  as  carefully  noted,  and  will  hereafter  be  reported 
in  detail.     But  for  the  better  understanding  of  these  details,  and 
more  methodical  arrangement,  they  must  be  postponed  until  other 
explanatory  matters  shall  have  been  presented.     I  will  therefore 
here  merely  state  the  general  results.     In  four  extensive  marling 
operations,  on  three  different  farms,  under  different  circumstances,  \ 
and  nearly  all  of  which  were  unusually  difficult  and  laborious,  the 
total  expenses  were  severally  142,  97 i,  86,  and  91  cents  for  the 
100  heaped  bushels  of  marl,  spread  upon  the  fields. 

Most  of  marling  labours,  under  ordinary  circumstances  of  facility  \ 
and  difficulty,  ought  not  to  exceed  in  cost  $1  for  the  100  bushels 
of  marl  applied ;  while  the  ordinary  profits  thereon  will  well  repay 
an  expenditure  of  $6,  under  existing  circumstances ;  or  of  twice  or 
thrice  as  much,  if  lands  and  their  permanent  improvements  in 
Virginia  were  priced  according  to  their  producing  and  intrinsic 
value,  and  not  according  to  the  excess  of  supply  over  demand  in 
the  land  market. 

The  argument  in  support  of  the  several  propositions  which  were 
advanced,  and  have  been  discussed  through  so  many  chapters,  is 
now  concluded.  However  unskilfully,  I  flatter  myself  that  it  has 
been  effectually  urged ;  and  that  the  general  deficiency  in  our  «oils 
of  calcareous  earth,  the  necessity  of  supplying  it,  the  profit  by  that 
means  to  be  derived,  and  the  high  importance  of  all  these  consider- 
ations, have  been  established  too  firmly  to  be  shaken  by  either 
arguments  or  facts. 

There  remain,  however,  and  will  be  presented  in  order,  other 
important  matters ;  which  though  not  necessary  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  series  of  propositions  which  have  been  argued,  and 
which  were  too  long  to  have  been  properly  included  in  that  discus- 
sion, are  not  the  less  deserving  of  consideration. 
20 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

OTIIER  FERTILIZING  FOWERS  AND  EFFECTS  OF  CALCAREOUS  EARTH. 

When  stating  the  supposed  powers,  or  modes  of  operation,  of 
calcareous  earth,  or  of  the  salts  of  lime  generally,  as  ingredients 
of  soils,  by  which  their  presence  caused  fertility,  and  their  absenco 
or  great  deficiency  maintained  barrenness  (Chap.  Till.),  no  power 
or  quality  was  named  which  had  not  been  either  inferred  in  ad- 
vance of  any  known  results  of  calxing,  or  observed  in  natural 
soils,  or  otherwise,  soon  after  the  commencement  of  my  practical 
applications.  Also,  subsequently,  in  Chap.  XIX.,  when  either  re- 
capitulating, or  stating  for  the  first  time,  the  results  of  calxing, 
none  were  named  (unless  incidentally  and  slightly),  which  had  not 
been  obtained  from  my  own  practice,  or  by  personal  observation  of 
the  practice  of  intelligent  and  trustworthy  co-labourers  in  this 
mode  of  improvement.  There  remain  to  be  presented  other  or 
greater  effects  than  had  been  anticipated,  or  known  early  from  ex- 
perience ;  and  also  other  auxiliary  and  important  causes  for  such 
unexpected  measure  of  benefit  produced  by  calcareous  manures. 

3Iy  own  early  practice  in  calxing  was  mostly  on  acid  soils.  The 
much  smaller  surface  of  neutral  soils,  though  also  marled,  was  not 
observed  for  the  effects  through  a  course  of  years — nor  carefully,  by 
experiment,  for  less  time,  in  but  few  cases.  On  such  soils,  my 
theory  promised  no  early  perceptible  benefits  ;  and  late  returns 
could  not  well  be  known  and  estimated,  except  from  large  surfaces, 
as  a  whole  field,  or  the  greater  part  of  a  farm. 

But  though  my  high  and  hilly  farm  of  Coggins  had  but  a  small 
proportion  of  neutral  soil,  most  of  the  lower  and  level  lands  on  the 
tide-water  of  James  river  consisted  principally  of  soil  of  that  kind. 
These  best  lands  of  the  lower  James  (as  of  all  the  other  tide-waters 
of  Virginia)  have  evidently  been  formed  by  the  deposit  of  alluvial 
earth,  subsequent  to  the  general  "upheaving"  of" the  higher-lying 
and  greater  body  of  the  surrounding  lands  from  below  the  bottom 
of  t&e  ancient  ocean ;  yet  long  before  the  present  degree  of  eleva- 
tion of  the  general  surface  had  been  completed,  by  the  producing 
geological  causes.  These  ancient  alluvial  lands  are  always  low,  in 
comparison  to  the  adjacent  lands  of  different  and  earlier  formation; 
yet  so  much  elevated  above  the  present  greatest  height  of  the 
river,  that  they  have  as  little  of  the  characteristic  defects  of  "low- 
ground,"  as  if  not  of  alluvial  formation.  The  common  geological 
origin  of  these  lands,  and  their  common  sources  of  materials,  havo 
served  to  give  to  them  a  general  uniformity  of  character   and 

(230) 


SOILS   OP  ANCIENT   ALLUVIUM.  231 

qualities,  though  with  considerable  variations  of  texture  and 
fertility.  Such  were  the  natimd  soils,  generally,  of  the  farms  of 
Sandy  Point,  Brandon,  "Wyanoke,  Westover,  Eppes'  Island,  Jor- 
dan's Point,  Shirley,  Curie's  Neck,  and  smaller  parts  of  many 
other  lands  along  James  river.  Some  small  portions,  as  on 
Wvanoke,  were  so  sandy  as  to  suffer  loss  of  soil  from  high  winds, 
before  being  improved  by  lime,  which  stopped  the  further  progress 
of  that  injury.  Other  parts  are  made  objectionably  stiff'  and  in- 
tractible,  by  containing  too  much  clay.  More  generally,  the 
texture  is  of,  or  approaches  to  medium,  or  is  between  the  extremes 
of  sandy  loam  and  clayey  loam.  The  surface  is  nearly  level,  but 
generally  is  very  slightly  undulating,  and  exhibiting,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  depressions  and  elevations,  the  course  and  degree  of 
violence  of  the  ancient  flood  of  turbid  water,  which  deposited  the 
soil,  and  also  thus  furrowed  the  surface.  All  such  lands  were 
originally  rich,  and  of  course  neutral ;  but  nearly  all  had  been 
much  reduced  in  fertility  by  the  exhausting  and  bad  cultivation 
formerly  general  in  lower  Virginia.  A  largo  proportion  of  these 
lands  were  of  that  peculiar  and  best  kind  of  soil  known  as  "mu- 
latto," or  chocolate-coloured.  They  are  reddish  brown,  showing  by 
this  colour  a  considerable  ingredient  of  red  oxide  of  iron ;  while  the 
darker  tint,  friable  texture,  and  growth  of  these  soils,  would  seem 
to  indicate  a  calcareous  character  and  constitution  formerly,  though 
none  have  been  known  to  be  more  than  neutral,  before  the  artificial 
calxing.  Before  this  improvement  on  all  the  best  of  such  soils, 
clover  would  grow,  and  gypsum  acted  on  clover.  These  "mulatto" 
soils  have  before  been  incidentally  mentioned  in  this  essay  ;  and 
more  particular  descriptions  of  several  of  the  best  tracts,  and  of 
their  recent  improvement  by  calxing,  were  published  in  different 
parts  of  the  Farmers'  Register.* 

Reasoning  from  the  modes  of  operation  ascribed  to  calcareous 
earth  in  Chap.  VIII.,  and  in  advance  of  all  experience  of  the  effects 
of  calcareous  manures  on  these  fine  neutral  soils,  I  had  not  sup- 
posed them  capable  of  deriving  much  benefit  from  that  mode  of 
improvement.  But  very  different  have  been  the  results.  The 
effects  of  calxing  thereon,  whether  by  marling  or  liming,  are  (as 
was  expected),  scarcely,  if  at  all,  perceptible  on  the  first  crop ; 
and  even  the  earliest  appreciable  benefit  is  as  nothing  compared  to 
the  speedy  and  wonderful  effects  on  acid  soils.  Still,  the  improve- 
ment is  not  long  in  becoming  manifest;  and  within  the  first  round 
of  the  rotation  of  crops,  and  especially  when  clover  becomes  the 
growth  of  the  field,  the  benefit  from  the  previous  calxing  is  great, 
and  in  the  succeeding  grain  crops  is  amply  remunerating,  though 

*  As  of  Lower  Wvanoke,  Shirley,  and  Carle's  Neck,  in  vol.  i. :  Vftestover, 
in  vol.  i. ;  Sandy  Point,  in  vol.  ix. ;  Brandon,  in  vol.  x. ;  besides  many 
other  slighter  references  to  these  or  other  similar  lauds. 


'232       ANCIENT   ALLUVIUM   Ult    LATEST   Ii&tfX    FORMATION. 

still  falling  much  sliort  of  wliat  it  will  reach  sonic  years  later.  All 
these  fine  lauds,  on  James  river  (owing  to  their  fresh-water  allu- 
vial formation),  are  destitute  of  the  marl  (of  fossil  sea-shells), 
which  is  so  generally  abundant  lying  under  the  adjacent  higher 
lands.  Still,  nearly  all  have  been  covered  cither  by  marl  water- 
borne  from  other  places,  or  by  lime  brought  from  Pennsylvania,  or 
burnt  from  purchased  oyster-shells.  The  percentage  of  increase 
in  the  crops,  even  after  the  full  effect  is  produced  by  calxing.  is 
much  less  on  these  lands,  than  of  the  poorest  acid  soils.  But  the 
absolute  increase  of  crop,  and  also  the  profit  compared  to  the  ex- 
pense of  the  manuring,  on  these  neutral  and  especially  the  hazel  or 
"  mulatto"  soils,  after  some  years,  are  as  great  as  the  absolute  in- 
crease of  product,  and  the  profit,  on  any  acid  or  other  poor  soils. 
The  original  production,  and  even  the  much  reduced  production  of 
these  best  soils,  was  so  much  higher  than  that  of  acid  soils,  tha£ 
an  improvement  of  50  per  cent,  in  the  crops  of  the  former  may 
well  be  a  greater  absolute  increase  and  profit,  than  an  increase  of 
100  or  even  150  per  cent,  on  much  poorer  lands. 

On  all  the  other  tide-water  rivers  of  Virginia,  there  are  flat 
lands  of  like  geological  formation,  and  having  general  resemblance 
to  those  of  James  river;  while  all  such,  ou  each  different  river, 
have  still  more  of  general  similarity  of  character  to  each  other, 
and  of  general  difference  from  such  lands  on  other  rivers.  Such 
results  might  be  inferred,  from  the  great  sources  and  materials  of 
the  ancient  alluvium  having  been  different  on  each  of  the  rivers. 
Such  lands  on  the  Pamunkey  river  are  the  most  extensive,  the 
most  elevated  (being  in  most  cases  full  30  feet  above  the  present 
level  of  the  river,  and  far  above  the  highest  freshes),  and  also  the 
most  valuable.  Not  much  of  this  land  is  as  clayey  or  was  as  rich 
originally  as  the  smaller  extent  of  best  lands  on  the  tide-water  of 
James  river.  But  for  ease  of  tillage,  and  cheapness  of  improve- 
ment by  marl,  and  for  profit  on  the  capital  and  labour  employed, 
no  lands  are  superior.  Since  the  beginning  of  1844,  I  have  been 
a  proprietor  and  cultivator  of  a  farm  of  this  description,  bordering 
on  the  Pamunkey  (Marlbourne) ;  and  within  the  next  seven  years, 
applied  marl  to  the  amount  of  nearly  370,000  bushels.  The  in- 
crease and  profits  therefrom  have  already  much  exceeded  my  pre- 
vious expectations ;  though  both  (from  the  lateness  of  the  manur- 
ings)  are  still  much  below  the  mark  they  will  reach,  when  time 
enough  shall  have  passed  to  bring  the  manure  into  full  operation.  It 
is  proper,  however,  to  state  that  the  marl  used  on  the  Pamunkey  flats 
is  the  green-sand  eocene — of  peculiar  character,  and  of  more 
than  the  beneficial  operation  of  mere  calx,  or  carbonate  of  lime. 
It  is  indeed  not  rich  in  calcareous  earth  (having  from  25  to  30, 
and  very  rarely  35  to  40  per  cent.);  but,  in  addition,  it  contains 
some  gypsum,  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  grccn-sand.     And, 


ANCIENT   ALLUVIAL   OR   LATTER  DRIFT   SOILS.  233 

judging  from  the  effects  as  manure,  it  seems  probable  that  some 
phosphate  of  lime  is  also  present.  By  these  auxiliary  ingredients, 
added  to  the  main  source  of  fertility,  the  calx  of  the  manuring 
earth,  the  vigour  and  luxuriance  of  clover  is  peculiarly  promoted — 
beyond  any  effect  of  calxing  alone  knowu  elsewhere — and  the 
succeeding  wheat  crop  is  also  increased  in  proportion  to  the  clover- 
manure  grown  and  turned  under  to  prepare  for  the  wheat. 

Some  small  portions  of  the  Pamunkey  flats  are  of  close  and  im- 
permeable pale  yellowish  clay,  and  the  value  much  the  less  for  this 
objectionable  quality.  But  most  of  such  lands  are  of  light  sandy 
loam,  and  some  very  sandy.  Some  of  the  sands  are*  of  mulatto 
soil,  and  some  gray,  and  even  approaching  to  acid  character.  No 
red  clay  soil,  or  sub-soil,  is  there  known. 

It  has  been  deemed  proper  to  speak  thus  fully  of  these  neutral 
soils,  and  their  improvement  by  calxing,  because  the  circumstances 
serve  most  clearly  to  establish  the  opinion  stated  formerly  (in  the 
edition  of  1842),  that  calcareous  manures  must  possess  some  other 
and  important  fertilizing  action,  besides  the  several  kinds  before 
asserted  (in  Chap.  VIII.).  Of  these  several  powers,  neutral  soils 
did  not  recmire,  and  therefore  could  not  profit  by  that  of  neutraliz- 
ing acids;  nor  of  altering  the  texture,  absorbency,  &c,  of  the  soil. 
Such  soil  had  already  been  provided  by  natural  constitution  with 
enough  lime  for  these  purposes.  Therefore,  the  only  other  fertiliz- 
ing property  there  claimed,  in  advance  of  experience,  for  calcareous 
earth,  that  of  combining  with,  preserving,  and  fixing  putrescent 
manures  in  soils,  was  all  that  could  be  counted  upon  to  improve 
neutral  soils.  But  this  slow  and  merely  conservative  action,  how- 
ever valuable  for  improvement,  could  not  possibly  be  the  sole  cause 
of  the  great  and  progressively  increasing  production  of  neutral 
soils,  which  was  manifest  within  a  few  years  after  their  being 
calxed ;  and  other  and  important  causes  had  evidently  been  operat- 
ing. And  although  the  circumstances  of  neutral  soils  led  more 
immediately  to  this  conclusion,  those  of  the  acid  soils  also  con- 
curred. As  was  intimated  in  former  editions,  on  all  soils  and  crops 
which  were  improved  by  calcareous  manures,  though  the  expe- 
rienced effects  were  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  theory  of  their 
operation,  they  seemed  in  measure  and  amount  to  surpass  their 
supposed  causes.  I  will  now  proceed  to  set  forth  other  auxiliary 
causes  of  fertilizing  action  and  power  of  calcareous  earth,  or  lime 
salts  generally,  in  soils ;  which  causes  have  been  suggested  by  or 
deduced  from  the  more  recent  lights  furnished  by  the  progress  of 
the  science  of  agricultural  chemistry,  and  in  part  are  the  results 
of  my  own  later  observations  or  experience.  The  most  important 
of  these  additional  powers  or  operations  of  lime  in  soil  are  the 
following : 

20* 


231  SOLVENT  ACTION  OF  CALX. 

I.  Causing  the  more  rapid  decomposition  and  perfect  solubility 
of  vegetable  matters,  otherwise  inert  or  insoluble. 

II.  Enabling  either  the  soil,  or  the  plants  growing  thereon,  to 
draw  from  the  atmosphere  greater  supplies  of  manuring  or  aliment- 
ary principles,  viz. : 

1.  Carbon,  to  growing  plants; 

2.  Azote   (nitrogen),  from  the  atmosphere,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  leguminous  plants; 

3.  Nitric  acid,  and  nitrates,  to  the  soil,  and  thereby  increasing 
the  supplies  of  azotic  principles  to  growing  plants. 

III.  Giving  to  all  growing  plants  a  more  healthy  constitution, 
and  more  vigorous  vital  powers,  and  thereby  more  ability  to  with- 
stand dangers  and  injuries  of  all  kinds. 

These  several  branches  of  the  subject  will  be  discussed  in  the 
following  pages ;  and  so  far  as  they  admit  of  separation,  in  the 
order  stated. 

§  I.  Lime  and  Carbonate  (and  other  Salts')  of  Lime  render  Vrye- 
table  and  Organic  matters  more  soluble. 

It  is  a  well  established  chemical  action  of  the  fixed  alkalies  pro- 
per (potash  and  soda),  on  vegetable  or  other  organic  matter,  to  render 
it  more  soluble,  and  thereby  more  speedily  and  effectually  to  reduce 
insoluble  and  inert  organic  manures  to  the  state  fit  to  be  taken  up 
by  the  roots  of  plants;  and  enable  them  to  be  more  completely 
consumed  as  food  for  plants.  It  may  well  be  inferred,  from  the 
general  resemblance  of  chemical  properties,  that  this  solvent  action 
of  the  alkalies  proper  must  also  belong  to  the  alkaline  earths,  lime 
and  magnesia,  even  though  in  combination  with  carbonic  acid 
That  caustic  or  pure  lime  exerts  this  solvent  power  was  stated 
previously  (page  103),  when  treating  of  its  manuring  action.  Like 
effects,  as  exhibited  in  the  rapid  disappearance  of  leaves,  &c,  on 
calcareous  and  neutral  soils,  were  also  stated  (page  98),  from  which 
effects  it  might  be  inferred  that  this  solvent  power  attended  lime  in 
all  its  ordinary  combinations  or  conditions  in  soil ;  though  perhaps 
then  exerting  this  power  more  slowly  than  either  caustic  lime,  or 
carbonate  of  potash.  These  well-known  effects  on  natural  soils, 
and  also  the  quicker  and  better  effects  of  unrotted  putrescent  ma- 
nures when  applied  to  calxcd  lands,  I  had  ascribed  altogether  to  the 
indirect  action  of  calcareous  earth,  in  its  having  neutralized  the 
previously  existing  acid,  which  was  antiseptic,  and  prevented  or 
retarded  the  rotting  and  solubility  of  the  vegetable  matters.  Brit 
besides  this  indirect  action,  there  seems  good  reason  to  believe  that 
there  is  also  a  direct  solvent  power  exerted  by  salts  of  lime,  similar 
to  that  of  the  alkalies  proper,  and  their  salts,  or  combinations  with 
acids,  lleunie  and  Timer  have  expressly  cxteuded  this  known 
chemical  action  of  the  alkalies  proper  to  the  alkaline  earths,  even 


ALLEGED   IMPOVERISHMENT   BY   CALXINCJ.  235 

when  in  the  state  of  carbonates.*  That  such  extension  is  correct 
fa  further  confirmed  by  some  of  the  effects  of  calcareous  manures, 
as  adduced  by  Prof.  Johnston,  and  as  understood  by  practical 
limers  in  England.  He  says,  of  the  action  of  lime,  '*  it  changes 
the  inert  vegetable  matter  in  the  soil,  so  as  gradually  to  render  it 
useful  to  vegetation  (p.  400) ;  and  further  (p.  401),  that  "  under 
the  influence  of  lime,  the  organic  matter  disappears  more  rapidly 
than  it  would  otherwise  do;  and  that,  after  it  has  thus  disappeared, 
fresh  additions  of  lime  produce  no  further  good  effect."  These 
remits,  in  substance,  have  been  maintained  in  the  preceding  por- 
tion of  this  assay ;  but  were  ascribed  there  to  other  than  the  gene- 
ral solvent  action  of  calcareous  earth — which  I  would  now  suppose 
to  be  one  of  the  important  concurring  causes. 

According  to  the  treatment  of  the  land  while  this  solvent  action 
of  calx  is  proceeding,  through  a  course  of  years,  the  general  and 
final  results  will  be  either  injurious,  in  the  removal  and  destruction 
of  the  organic  matter  (as  stated  by  Johnston),  or  beneficial,  by  its 
bein»  stored  up  and  fixed  in  the  soil,  under  reverse  circumstances. 
If  the  system  of  cropping  be  continually  exhausting — taking  as  much 
as  possible  from  the  land  and  returning  nothing — then  the  lessen- 
in"'  and  disappearance  of  the  organic  matter,  whether  slowly  or 
speedily,  will  finally  be  complete ;  and  equally  sure  will  be  the  so 
induced  and  almost  hopeless  subsequent  sterility  of  the  soil.  It  was 
upon  such  ignorant  and  destructive  cropping  as  this  that  was 
founded  the  often  quoted  old  proverb  in  England,  that  "  liming 
makes  rich  fathers  and  poor  sons."  And  this  saying  will  be  cer- 
tainly true,  if  understood  of  liming  (or  of  calxing  in  general), 
followed  by  continued  or  generally  exhausting  tillage ;  though  en- 
tirely false  if  followed  by  mild  meliorating  cultivation,  and  judi- 
cious management.  Doubtless  there  were  formerly  in  England,  in 
times  of  ignorance  and  bad  farming,  numerous  cases  of  the  destruc- 
tive results  of  calcareous  manures;  and  it  is  much  to  be  feared, 
that,  from  as  ignorant  practice,  and  at  some  time  hence,  there  will 
be  many  such  results  in  this  country.     Some  such  have  already 


*  Both  passages  have  before  been  quoted,  in  reference  to  other  subjects. 
Ronnie  says  of  insoluble  huniic  acid,  that  it  "readily  combines  with  many 
of  the  substances  found  in  soils  and  manures,  and  not  only  renders  them, 
but  itself  also,  easy  to  be  dissolved  in  water,  which  in  th    ,  stale  could 

not  take  place.  In  this  way  humic  acid  will  combine  with  lime,  potass, 
ammonia,  in  the  form  of  humates,  and  the  smallest  portion  of  these  [alka- 
line matters]  will  render  it  [the  humic  acid]  soluble  in  water,  and  fit  to  bo 
taken  up  by  the  spongelets  of  the  root  fibres." — {Alphabet  of  Scientific  Gar- 
dening.) 

Thaer  says — "It  is  well  known  that  with  the  aid  of  alkalies,  ashes, 
lime,  and  marl,  humus  may  be  deprived  of  its  acidity,  and  rendered  easily 
soluble:'     (p.  538.) 


236  MANNER   OP  CAUSING    STERILITY. 

been  produced;  and  many  more  are  in  progress,  in  spite  of  all 
warnings  of  the  danger. 

Though  Johnston  uses  the  word  "  lime"  alone  in  the  above  pas- 
sages, or  in  immediate  connexion  with  them,  it  is  evident  from  his 
context  that  he  meant  carbonate  of  lime,  or  such  condition  as  lime 
would  be  in  some  years  after  its  having  been  applied  as  manure;  and 
this  condition  would  certainly  not  be  that  of  caustic  or  pure  lime. 
If  admitting  to  the  fullest  extent  the  solvent  action  claimed  according 
to  his  views,  the  extreme  cases  would  stand  thus :  The  unrotted 
and  then  insoluble  organic  matter  in  a  soil,  which,  without  calxing 
the  laud,  might  require  (suppose)  twenty  years  gradually  and 
slowly  to  become  soluble  and  fit  for  use,  and  to  be  used  by  plants 
as  becoming  fit,  might  otherwise  become  soluble  and  as  fit  for  feed- 
ing plants  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  if  in  soil  made  calcareous. 
In  the  former  case,  the  most  relentless  exhausting  tillage  could  not 
totally  consume  or  remove  all  the  organic  matter  in  less  than  twenty 
years,  because  it  could  not  be  used  or  exhausted  before  becoming 
soluble.  In  the  latter  case  it  might  be  done  (possibly)  in  ten 
years,  admitting  the  extreme  deduction  from  Johnston's  views ;  or 
according  to  mine  (if  allowing  for  the  preservative  as  well  as  the 
solvent  operation  of  calx),  all  the  first  existing  organic  matter 
might  be  used,  and  the  land  made  sterile,  say  in  fifteen  years. 
Supposing  further,  to  be  produced  but  an  ordinary  increase  of  crops 
from  the  calxing,  then  the  total  products  even  in  the  ten  and  fif- 
teen years  respectively  required  to  reduce  the  land  to  a  state  of 
unproductiveness  would  amount  to  twice  or  thrice  the  amount  that 
could  have  been  obtained  in  twenty  years  from  the  land  if  not 
calxed.  Thus,  even  in  such  extreme  and  similar  circumstances  of 
unmitigated  exhausting  tillage,  the  advantage  in  profit  would  still 
be  greatly  in  favour  of  the  calxed  land. 

But  why  should  we  waste  arguments  or  words  on  such  supposed 
cases  of  absurd  and  destructive  tillage,  pushed  to  the  extremity  of 
reducing  the  land  to  barrenness  ?  Whether  land  be  limed  or  not, 
a  continued  exhausting  course  of  tillage,  even  with  some,  but  in- 
sufficient intermission,  can  only,  sooner  or  later,  lead  to  the  same 
result  of  the  greatest  possible  exhaustion,  and  with  certain  eventual 
loss  to  the  proprietor. 

Even  if  nothing  be  allowed  for  the  important  preservative  action 
of  calx  (which  in  truth  would  hold  and  fix  all  the  organic  matters 
made  soluble,  until  they  were  used  by  growing  plants,  however 
long  that  use  might  be  deferred),  still  I  would  deny  that  the  sol- 
vent action  of  calcareous  manures  would  be  of  itself  destructive  or 
injurious  to  the  future  productive  power  of  the  land.  It  is  indeed 
true,  that  the  fertilizing  elements  thus  offered  so  readily  (by  earlier 
solution  of  inert  vegetable  matters)  might  be  so  much  the  more 
readily  wasted  and  exhausted  by  an  ignorant  and  improvident  cul- 


BENEFIT  OF  LENIENT  CROPFING.  237 

tivator.  But  on  the  other  hand  they  might  as  readily  be  used 
profitably,  in  part  reinvested,  and  increased  by  partial  accumula- 
tion, while  still  producing  good  profit,  by  judicious  farming.  If  a 
merchant's  capital,  in  ships,  warehouses,  and  merchandise,  could,  at 
any  instant  when  desired,  be  converted,  partly  or  wholly,  to  the  value 
in  ready  money,  surely  no  one  would  deem  that  facility  as  other 
than  an  immense  advantage  to  his  business  and  means  for  increas- 
ing his  wealth.  Or  suppose  that  the  merchant's  trade  with  remote 
countries,  usually  requiring  three  years  to  return  his  ventures  and 
the  profits,  could,  by  some  change,  bring  the  like  returns  every 
three  months;  would  any  one  contend  that  this  more  rapid  "turn* 
ing  over  his  money"  would  be  a  loss  to  him?  Yet  both  facilities 
would  enable  him,  if  so  inclined,  so  much  the  sooner  to  spend  his 
income  and  his  capital  stock.  Just  so,  and  no  more,  is  the  farmer's 
land  necessarily  to  be  exhausted,  or  his  total  income  and  capital 
spent,  because  calxing  has  enabled  him  to  obtain  a  certain  amount 
of  income  in  half  the  time  previously  required;  or  even  to  draw  out 
his  whole  landed  capital  in  annual  income,  and  to  waste  the  whole, 
if  he  is  so  foolish  a  prodigal  as  to  take  that  course. 

In  truth,  if  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  new  products,  or  in- 
crease created  by  calxing,  be  given  back  as  manure  to  sustain  the 
productive  powers  of  the  land — whether  in  prepared  putrescent 
manures,  or  in  green  crops  used  as  manure,  or  merely  by  giving 
rest,  and  the  natural  growth  during  rest  to  be  left  on  the  land — so 
that  the  draughts  from  the  land  will  be  less  than  the  supplies  fur- 
nished to  it  from  all  sources,  there  will  be  no  continued  exhaustion 
even  in  the  slightest  degree,  no  diminution  of  average  products — 
and  the  sons,  no  less  than  the  fathers,  may  be  made  rich  by.  the 
operation  of  lime. 

On  all  cultivated  lands,  whether  rich  or  poor,  calxed  or  not, 
proper  considerations  of  farming  profit  alone  would  require  that  the 
crops  should  take  no  more  of  fertilizing  principles  from  the  land, 
than  arc  restored,  and  exceeded,  if  possible,  in  the  returns  made  to 
the  soil.  In  making  these  returns,  bountiful  Nature  adds  three 
and  four-fold  to  all  that  the  farmer  can  give  in  manure  or  other 
improvement.  The  earth,  water,  and  the  air,  are  all  continually 
preparing  and  furnishing  manuring  principles  to  the  soil  and  to  the 
crops.  The  richer  and  better  constituted  the  soil,  or  the  more  it  is 
enriched  by  putrescent  manures  and  rest,  the  more,  and  in  a  far 
increased  proportion,  docs  .Nature  furnish  in  addition,  other  aids 
to  resuscitation  or  increase,  of  fertility.  Hence,  the  more  that 
the  farmer  gives  to  the  land,  the  more,  and  in  increased  pro- 
portion, will  it  return  to  him.  Therefore,  it  is  no  certain  course 
of  cropping,  and  of  intermission  or  melioration,  that  can  be  stated 
as  always  improving  the  fertility  of  land,  or  otherwise  exhausting 
it.     The  results  of  a  certain  rotation  may  be  improving  to  a  good 


238  BENEFIT   OP   SUrrLYINa   VEGETABLE   MATTER. 

and  rich  soil,  and  yet  would  be  exhausting  to  a  bad  and  poor  one. 
A  good  and  rich  soil  may,  in  some  cases,  yield  three  crops  of  grain 
in  four  years,  and  yet  improve  by  the  rest  and  self-manuring  (by 
its  own  vegetable  growth)  of  the  fourth  year  only — while  very  poor 
land  may  not  increase  its  scant  products,  though  cropped  but  one 
year  in  three.  Yet  the  rule  of  resuscitation,  and  its  working,  arc 
alike  in  both  cases.  The  one-fourth  of  the  product  of  the  best 
soil  serves  to  give  it  more  manuring,  even  in  proportion  to  all  its 
large  crops  removed,  than  two-thirds  of  the  whole  product  of  the 
poorest  soil,  in  proportion  to  its  very  small  yield  for  consumption 
and  sale.  This  greater  supply  of  fertilization  to  a  good  soil  in 
shorter  time  is  not  altogether  in  the  mere  quantity  of  vegetable 
matter  furnished.  The  greater  part  probably  is  due  to  the  superior 
power  of  a  lime  soil  to  fix  and  so  retain  the  enriching  products  of 
vegetable  decomposition,  which,  on  an  acid  soil,  wanting  this  fixing 
power,  would  be  mostly  wasted.  This  is  another  illustration  of  the 
important  economy  of  calxing  all  lands  not  abundantly  supplied 
with  lime  by  nature. 

The  allowing  to  land,  after  having  been  marled  or  limed,  a  due 
share  of  rest  from  tillage,  so  as  to  permit  its  being  manured  by  its 
own  growth  during  the  times  of  rest,  even  if  not  essential,  would 
be  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  accompanjdng  benefits  to  the 
farmer  j  for  by  such  means  of  furnishing  the  necessary  supply  of 
/  organic  or  putrescent  matters  to  the  soil,  the  same  value  of  manur- 
l  ing  is  given  at  very  far  less  expense  than  if  by  manures  artificially 
prepared  in  the  stables  and  barn-yard.  Highly  valuable  and  im- 
portant as  are  the  latter,  and  more  especially  profitable  to  the 
calxing  farmer,  still  their  amount  is  limited  by  the  measure  of  both 
the  supply  of  materials  and  of  labour  to  be  given  for  preparing  and 
applying  the  manure.  But  to  manure  a  field  by  its  own  growth, 
requires  very  little  more  than  to  let  it  alone.  If  merely  left  a  year 
unfilled  and  ungrazed,  an  important  gain  is  secured  without  any 
cost  of  labour  or  material.  And  if,  as  part  of  a  proper  rotation, 
to  the  resting  there  is  added  the  seeding  of  the  land  in  clover,  or 
any  suitable  leguminous  growth  for  green  manuring,  the  additional 
benefit  will  be  much  more  than  the  additional  expense. 

This  essential  and  also  highly  profitable  accompaniment  to 
liming  or  marling  is  precisely  the  condition  which  is  most  gene- 
rally objected  to  by  those  who  wish  to  begin  such  improvements — 
and  the  most  frequently  neglected  by  those  who  have  already 
limed  or  marled.  In  the  reasoning  of  the  one  class,  and  the  prac- 
tice of  the  other,  it  seems  to  be  required  that  calxing  shall  do 
everything  for  fertilization  and  production,  without  aid,  and  be 
proof  against  all  powers  of  exhaustion  and  destruction  by  tillage. 
And  if  such  unreasonable  demands  be  pronounced  impossible  to  be 
complied  with)  it  serves  with  many  as  sufficient  ground  to  deem 


ERRONEOUS   PRACTICE   IN    SOUTTI   CAROLINA.  239 

the  use  of  calcareous  manures  unprofitable  ;  or  if  already  used,  to 
charge  to  them  the  subsequent  deterioration  or  exhaustion  of 
the  land  which  had  been  allowed  neither  sufficient  rest,  nor  returns 
of  putrescent  matters. 

In  the  year  1843,  when  acting  as  Agricultural  Surveyor  of  South 
Carolina,  my  most  earnest  effort  was  to  induce  the  planters  to  make 
proper  use  of  marl;  which  is  there  more  rich,  more  abundant,  and 
more  easy  of  access  through  a  large  portion  of  that  state  than  a 
Stranger  can  well  conceive,  and  of  which  almost  no  use  had  then 
been  made.  Gov.  Hammond  and  a  few  others  made  the  only  ex- 
ceptions to  this  general  neglect ;  which  cases  of  exception  were 
stated  in  the  u  Report  of  the  Agricultural  Survey  of  South  Caro- 
lina." My  failure  then  to  persuade  more  than  a  few  planters  to 
try  this  richest  and  also  cheapest  of  means  for  fertilization,  and 
the  neglect  to  use  these  means  which  still  continues  very  generally 
in  South  Carolina,  were  mainly  owing  to  the  required  condition  of 
giving  due  rest  and  vegetable  growth  for  manuring  to  the  marled 
lands.  This  condition  I  alwa}-s  and  strongly  urged  as  essential ; 
and  it  was  so  contrary  to,  the  general  system  of  tillage  there  in 
use,  and  therefore  was  deemed  so  objectionable,  that  but  few  persons 
were  willing  to  make  the  required  change  for  any  expected  benefits 
from  marling.  Nearly  all  who  before  or  since  have  there  tried 
marling,  have  failed  to  add  these  necessary  accompaniments;  and 
of  course  their  early  returns  have  not  been  half  what  they  would 
otherwise  have  been,  and  the  ultimate  results  will  be  still  more 
deficient. 

The  general  usage  in  South  Carolina  was  to  take  a  crop  for 
market  or  consumption  (generally  either  cotton  or  corn)  every 
year.  As  there  was  no  other  than  tillage  land  (arable,  and  not 
before  worn  out),  if  a  planter  were  to  spare  a  field,  or  any  smaller 
space  from  culture,  it  would  be  equivalent  to  losing  just  so  much 
of  his  usual  crop  and  income,  for  that  year.  This  was  deemed  a 
sacrifice  which  very  few  were  willing  to  make,  and  none  to  suffi- 
cient extent.  It  is  true  that  new  clearings,  where  there  was  forest 
land  to  clear,  were  added  every  year  to  the  tilled  land.  But  this 
additional  surface  was  required  (as  supposed)  either  to  substitute 
the  older  land  utterly  worn  out,  and  turned  out  of  culture,  or 
otherwise  to  serve  for  the  planter's  increased  means  for  labour. 

This  very  bad  usage  of  continual  tillage  was  indeed  made  the 
less  exhausting,  and  the  more  tolerable,  by  a  system  of  collecting 
and  applying  vegetable  manures,  admirable  for  the  energy  with 
which  it  was  pursued,  and  for  the  great  extent  to  which  it  was 
carried.  I  have  never  known  so  much  of  the  labour  of  farms  to 
be  devoted  to  making  and  applying  putrescent  manures,  nor  so 
much  of  the  tilled  surface  to  be  so  manured,  as  in  lower  South 
Carolina.     For  this  purpose,  large  stocks  of  cattle  arc  kept  (in 


240  NEED   FOR   VEGETABLE    MANURES. 

very  poor  condition  indeed),  and  vegetable  matter  in  great 
quantity  is  gathered  in  leaves  from  the  wood-land,  and  sedge  and 
rushes  and  other  growth  of  the  tidc-marshes,  to  be  used  as  litter. 
The  manure  is  applied  in  the  row  or  drill,  so  as  to  go  as  far,  and 
act  as  quickly,  as  possible.  This  large  but  slight  and  poor  manur- 
ing required  frequent  renewal;  and  by  some  planters  it  was  re- 
newed every  year  over  their  whole  extent  of  cotton,  which  was 
much  the  largest  of  all  the  tilled  surface.  All  these  efforts  barely 
served  to  keep  up  the  manured  land  to  its  previous  moderate  rate 
of  production ;  and  if  that  could  be  done,  the  planter  was  content 
to  make  no  absolute  or  abiding  increase  of  fertility  by  his  continual 
applications  of  wasting  and  fleeting  manures.  When  urging  on 
such  persons  the  use  of  marl  or  lime,  I  was  frequently  met  by  the 
question  "  Will  marling  enable  me  to  dispense  with  other  ma- 
nuring ?"  and  the  negative  to  that  question,  always  promptly  given 
in  answer,  was  generally  assumed  as  sufficient  reason  for  failing  to 
use  calcareous  manures.  Yet  never  was  there  a  greater  mistake, 
or  more  false  reasoning,  than  led  to  this  conclusion. 

Besides  all  other  benefits  to  be  gained  by  thus  improving  the 
constitution  of  the  soil,  marling  would  have  made  half  the  usual 
dose  of  putrescent  manuring  do  more  good  than  the  whole.  By 
giving  rest  and  its  own  self-manuring,  say  to  one-third  of  the  arable 
surface,  the  other  two-thirds  would  soon  surpass  the  previous  pro- 
duction of  the  whole.  And  much  more  crop  would  be  obtained 
both  from  the  land  and  the  labour  employed,  than  before  marling 
and  resting,  or  than  with  marling  and  without  resting,  besides  a 
continued  growing  increase  of  fertility  and  production. 

But  the  idea  of  even  the  present  gain  of  a  proprietor  being  made 
the  greater,  or  the  early  lessening  of  crops  being  avoided,  by  con- 
tinual culture,  is  entirely  fallacious.  The  renter  of  another's  land, 
for  one  or  two  years  only,  may  indeed  reap  most  crop  and  profit 
by  tilling  the  whole  surface.  But  his  successor  will  lose  in  pro- 
portion to  the  previous  excess  of  cropping.  So  the  man  who  hires 
a  horse  for  a  day  only  may  get  from  him  the  greatest  quantity  of 
labour  and  at  least  expense,  by  working  him  the  whole  time,  with- 
out food  or  rest.  But  it  is  as  true  economy  and  profit  to  allow 
food  and  rest  to  the  land  in  an  occupancy  of  but  a  few  years,  as  to 
the  horse  if  employed  but  for  a  few  days.  In  either  case,  the  ex- 
pense of  such  allowance  is  an  investment  which  will  return  a 
higher  rate  of  profit  than  all  that  could  be  gained  without  such 
expense. 

Further:  unless  when  the  application  of  putrescent  manures  i3 
very  frequently  renewed,  and  therefore  is  very  expensive,  the 
resting  of  the  land  is  not  the  less  certain  to  occur,  and  for  as  long 
intervals,  as  if  allowed  by  the  most  lenient  rotation  of  crops.  In 
the  latter  case,  perhaps  the  land  (after  being  calxcd)  yields  three 


PROFIT   OF   REST   TO   LAND.  241 

grain  or  other  crops  for  market  in  a  five-years  rotation;  the  other 
two  years  being  given  to  rest,  self-manuring  by  the  vegetable 
growth  remaining,  or  part  of  the  land  being  in  pasture.  With 
such  respite,  the  three-fifths  of  the  land  will  very  soon  surpass  the 
previous  product  of  the  whole,  and  continue  long  to  increase  still 
more  in  product.  In  the  other  case,  of  continual  annual  cropping, 
ami  even  with  much  care  given  to  applying  prepared  manures,  the 
land  may  perhaps  bear  such  treatment  for  twenty,  thirty,  or  in  rare 
cases  forty  years,  before  being  so  reduced  as  to  be  no  longer  worth 
cultivating.  It  is  then  "  turned  out,"  and  left  useless  aud  profit- 
less for  some  thirty  years,  until,  under  a  new  growth  of  trees,  it  is 
brought  back  partially  to  a  state  fit  for  a  second  and  expensive 
clearing,  and  renewed  cultivation.  Nature  will  not  permit  the  soil 
to  be  utterly  robbed  of  its  due  claim  for  rest  and  resuscitation. 
And  if  the  cultivator  will  not  of  his  own  accord  grant  one  or  two 
years  in  four  or  five,  he  will  be  compelled  to  lose  a  much  larger 
proportion  of  time,  after  longer  delay.  In  the  one  case,  the  rest 
is  accompanied  by  increasing  fertility ;  in  the  other  it  is  the  result 
of  exhaustion,  and  is  followed  by  long-continued  and  total  unpro- 
ductiveness. 

The  amount  of  rest  for  land  required  for  its  progressive  improve- 
ment after  being  marled,  after  all,  is  inconsiderable,  and  is,  usually, 
fully  compensated  in  the  greater  product  of  the  two  next  succeeding 
crops  of  grain.  In  lower  Virginia,  the  system  of  continual  tillage 
formerly  was  as  prevalent  as  now  in  South  Carolina.  Yet  there 
are  very  few  of  even  the  most  improvident  and  exhausting  cultiva- 
tors who  do  not  now  know  that  more  grain  and  more  profit  are  to 
be  obtained  in  a  three-years  course  (for  example),  including  one 
year  of  rest,  than  if  taking  a  crop  every  year.  And  on  calxed  and 
well  conducted  farms,  making  regular  advances  in  production, 
three  grain-crops  and  one  of  clover  are  taken  off  in  a  five-years' 
rotation,  leaving  but  one  year  of  the  term  in  which  the  land  is  un- 
productive of  profit  for  that  time — though  not  unproductive  in 
preparing  for  future  returns. 

"Whether  the  question  be  considered  and  tested  by  facts  and  ex- 
perience, or  by  reasoning,  there  cannot  be  a  shadow  of  reason  or 
excuse  for  the  custom  of  continual  tillage,  except  in  a  newly  settled 
aud  uncleared  country,  of  great  fertility,  and  where  labour  is  very 
costly,  and  land  priced  very  low.  Not  one  of  these  conditions  now 
exists  in  lower  South  Carolina  to  justify  the  general  system  of  till- 
age. And  that  so  intelligent,  well  educated,  and  withal  so  indus- 
trious a  class  as  is  found  in  the  planters  generally  of  that  state, 
should  so  strangely  persist  in  such  a  system,  and,  for  its  preservation, 
reject  the  means  of  doubling  their  products  and  their  wealth  by 
marling,  is  not  the  result  of  the  teachings  either  of  reasoning  or 
of  experience,  but  of  the  supremacy  of  habits  long  established, 
aud  in  almost  universal  use. 
21 


242  ELEMENTS    OF   PLANTS. 

§  II.    Calcareous    earth    enables    the  soil,  or  tlie  plants  groxcing 
tltcrton,  to  draic  much  more  nutriment  from  the  atmosphere. 

Every  plant,  after  being  completely  burned,  leaves  a  small  pro- 
portion of  its  previous  quantity  in  ashes.  This  portion,  inde- 
structible by  burning,  is  distinguished  by  chemists  (not  with  much 
accuracy  of  signification)  as  the  inorganic  parts  of  plants ;  and 
these  are  found  to  consist  of  different  salts,  or  chemical  compounds 
of  different  acids  with  alkalies  proper,  and  alkaline  or  other  earths, 
and  also  some  oxides  of  metals.  All  these  matters,  making  the 
whole  residue  in  ashes,  in  any  one  plant,  or  part  or  product  of  any 
plant,  rarely  amount  to  as  much  as  one-tenth  of  the  original  dry 
weight ;  and  in  more  of  other  cases  fall  below  the  one-hundredth 
part.* 

The  other  and  much  larger  portion  of  all  vegetable  matters, 
called  by  chemists  the  organic,  or  that  which  is  destructible  by 
burning,  is  composed  either  of  three  or  most  generally  all  four  of 
these  elements,  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen  or  azote. 

The  like  division  of  products,  destructible  or  indestructible  by 
burning,  applies  to  all  animal  matters,  and  also  the  general  consti- 
tution of  their  different  parts ;  but  in  very  different  proportions. 
Excepting  the  solid  bony  or  shelly  parts  of  animal  matters,  the 
portion  indestructible  by  burning  is  extremely  small.  Of  the  des- 
tructible parts  of  animal  matter,  azote  (or  nitrogen),  always  forms 
a  considerable  proportion ;  while  in  most  vegetable  products  it  is 
in  very  small  proportion,  and  in  others  entirely  wanting.  It  is, 
however,  always  present  either  in  some  part,  or  element,  or  pro- 
duct of  every  plant.  It  is  the  proportion  of  azote,  small  as  it  is, 
l  which  mainly  determines  the  degree  of  richness  and  nutritive  value 
of  any  substance,  whether  as  food  for  animals,  or  as  manure  for 
growing  plants.  And  according  to  the  quantity  of  azote  contained, 
/  is  the  tendency  of  either  vegetable  or  animal  matter  to  putrescence, 
and  to  give  out  offensive  odours  while  putrefying.  Thus,  in  a  rough 
way,  common  observation  and  experience,  and  the  sense  of  smell, 
may  afford  tolerably  accurate  tests  of  the  amount  of  azotic  prin- 
ciples in  materials  of  manures  for  plants,  or  food  for  animals. 

It  follows  from  the  consideration  of  the  questions  of  which  the 
general  results  only  are  here  stated,  that  whatever  serves  to  furnish 
most  azote  to  the  soil,  in  manure,  is  most  conducive  to  its  immediate 
fertility;  and  whatever  abstracts  most  azote  from  the  soil,  without 
return,  is  the  most  exhausting  of  its  immediate  productive  powers. 

Having  presented  these  general  propositions  (which  seem  to  be 
received  by  all  authorities),  let  us  proceed  to  inquire  as  to  the 
sources  of  the  mode  of  supply  of  azote,  and  of  the  other  much 
more  abundant  constituents  of  plants. 

*  See  tables  of  proportions  for  ashes  from  many  vegetable  products  re- 
ports .1  1'v  B'.'iusinguult.  p.  53,  1,  Kara!  Ecuuviuy,  Am   £J.  vfEng.  Trana. 


ELEMENTS   OP  TLANTS.  243 

Putting  aside  for  the  present  the  minute  proportion  of  inorganic 
elements  (or  ashes)  of  plants — or  supposing  their  amount  to  be 
always  ascertained  separately,  or  understood — the  great  remainder 
of  all  plants,  amounting  from  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the  dry 
weight  of  some  products  to  more  than  ninety-ninc-hundredths  of 
others,  consists  of  elements  which  also  constitute  air  and  water,  or 
are  always  present  in  the   atmosphere ;  and  which  therefore  are 
always  surrounding  all  growing  plants,  and  in  unlimited  quantities.  \ 
But  though  so  abundant  and  inexhaustible,  these  elements  cannot    | 
be  taken  up  by  growing  plants  except  under  certain  conditions  j  / 
and  these  conditions  arc  but  slightly  under  the  control  of  cultiva--/ 
tors,  or  even  known  to  the  present  researches  of  science. 

Of  the  four  great  elements  of  organic  bodies,  carbon  only  is 
ever  presented  to  our  senses,  alone  and  as  a  solid.  Charcoal  is 
nearly  pure  carbon;  and  the  brilliant  and  precious  diamond  is  puro 
crystallized  carbon.  Of  the  three  other  great  elements,  oxygen, 
hydrogen,  and  azote,  each  one  in  its  separate  state  is  only  known 
to  us  as  gas,  or  air;  and  however  different  and  potent  their  quali- 
ties, they  are  all  as  little  perceptible  by  our  sight  or  touch,  as  the 
atmosphere.  Further :  carbon,  though  existing  nearly  pure,  and 
visible  and  tangible,  as  charcoal,  yet,  when  in  that  state,  is  incapa- 
ble of  affording  any  direct  support  to  plants ;  for  which  office  it  is 
necessary  that  carbon  shall  be  combined  with  oxygen ;  which  com- 
bination also  forms  a  gas  (carbonic  acid),  in  which  state  it  is  dif- 
fused throughout  the  atmosphere,  and  in  which  only  it  is  fit  to  be 
received  into  plants,  through  their  leaves,  and  thus  to  furnish  to 
them  their  essential  element,  carbon.  ^ 

Thus,  the  materials  of  nearly  the  whole  solid  substance  of  all  \ 
plants  and  all  animal  bodies,  are  supplied  wholly  by  four  gases,  or  ' 
different  kinds  of  air.  This  proposition  (than  which  none  in  agri-/ 
cultural  chemistry  is  better  established),  when  first  heard,  may 
well  seem  too  mysterious  for  comprehension,  and  the  results  too 
wonderful  for  belief.  And  after  the  proposition  has  been  fully 
assented  to,  there  must  occur  to  the  mind  of  every  student  of  this 
interesting  subject  another  question  involving  as  much  of  mystery 
and  wonder,  if  not  also  of  doubt.  This  question  is,  "If  the 
atmosphere  always  contains  all  the  organic  constituents  of  plants 
in  inexhaustible  quantities — and  if  plants  derive  from  the  atmos- 
phere nearly  all  of  their  constituent  parts — why  should  they  ever 
suffer  for  want  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  nourishment,  whether 
growing  on  rich  or  poor  soils  V  The  answer  is,  that  the  laws  of 
nature  forbid  some  of  these  gaseous  bodies  to  be  taken  up  directly 
by  growing  plants — or,  at  least,  only  under  certain  conditions ; 
and  these  conditions  are  not  dependent  on  the  quantities  of  these 
gases  present  in  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  and  arc  but  slightly 
under  the  control  of  man,  limited  in  knowledge  as  at  present. 


244 


ORGANIC   AND   INORGANIC   TARTS   OF   PLANTS. 


Should  the  progress  of  science  ever  serve  to  place  these  conditions 
under  man's  control,  then  exhaustless  stores  of  the  richest  nourish- 
ment to  plants,  and  the  sure  means  of  universal  and  exuberant 
productiveness  from  the  poorest  soils,  will  also  be  at  his  command. 
Food  for  land  and  plants  and  brutes  and  men  will  be  as  unlimited 
and  almost  as  available  as  the  air  we  breathe.  But  to  indulge  in 
such  speculations  of  the  possible  future,  is  now  mere  dreaming 
anticipation.  My  object  is  more  practical.  It  is  to  gather  and 
display  such  faint  lights  as  now  may  be  drawn  from  previous 
scientific  researches  upon  this  dark  and  yet  interesting  subject  of 
inquiry.  As  little  as  has  been  discovered  and  established  by  agri- 
cultural chemists,  and  still  less  put  to  practical  use,  I  believe  that 
new  and  very  important  and  useful  deductions  may  be  derived  from 
the  scattered  and  unconnected  truths  already  ascertained  in  regard 
to  the  nutrition  of  plants,  and,  through  the  medium  of  plants,  the 
nutrition  and  fertilization  of  soils. 

The  following  table  is  given  by  Boussingault  as  the  results  of 
his  investigations,  showing  the  proportions  of  the  constituent 
elements  of  various  ordinary  vegetable  products. 


Substances— dried  at  230°  Fahr. 

s 

d 

B 
at 

_s 

100  parts. 

~- 

s 

>> 

.f 

O 

= 

•< 

< 

Wheat 

46.1 

05.8 

43.4 

02.3 

02.4 

Rve     ....        *.       • 

46.2 

05.6 

44.2 

01.7 

02.3 

Oats 

" 

00.4 

30.7 

02.2 

04. 

Wheat  straw         .... 

48.4 

05.3 

38.9 

00.4 

07. 

Rye  straw    ..... 

49.9 

05.6 

40.6 

00.3 

03.6 

Oat  straw 

50.1 

05.4 

39. 

00.4 

05.1 

Potato 

44. 

05.8 

44.7 

01.5 

04. 

Field  beet 

42.  8 

05.8 

43.4 

01.7 

06.3 

Turnip 

42.9 

05.5 

42.3 

01.7 

07.6 

Jerusalem  artichoke  (or  potato)   . 

43.3 

05.8 

43.3 

01.6 

06. 

Peas    ...... 

40.5 

06.2 

40. 

04.2 

03.1 

Pea-straw    ..... 

45.8 

05. 

35.6 

02.3 

11.3 

Clover  hay    ... 

47.4 

05. 

37.8 

02.1 

07.7 

Jerusalem  artichoke  stems   . 

45.7 

05.4 

45.7 

00.4 

02.8 

From  these  propositions  of  the  vegetable  products  stated,  it 
would  appear  that  the  per  centage  of  each  of  its  elements  is  be- 
tween the  following  extremes 


r  Carbon     from  42.8 

J  Hydrogen  5. 

1  Oxygen  35.6 

[  Azote  00.4 
Inorganic  parts — Ashe3 


Organic  parts 


to 
to 
to 
to 
to 


50.7  per  cent. 

6.4 
45.7 

4.3 
11.3 


Of  the   first-named  four  and   great  constituent  parts,  carbon 


ORGANIC   PARTS   OP  PLANTS.  245 

only  is  furnished  by  nature  otherwise  than  in  the  greatest  profu- 
sion. Oxygen  gas  makes  about  one-fifth,  and  nitrogen  or  azote 
about  four-fifths  of  atmospheric  air;  and  pure  water  is  a  compound 
of  8  parts  of  oxygen  and  1  of  hydrogen.  Carbon  in  the  form 
of  carbonic  acid  gas  is  universally  present  in  the  atmosphere,  and  in 
variable  proportions;  but  usually  (over  land)  making  about  ^„\in 
only  of  the  whole  bulk.  In  weight,  the  proportion  of  carbonic  acid 
is  j^yfl  of  the  atmosphere.  Small  as  is  this  proportion,  still,  as  it 
is  present  in  the  air  surrounding  and  in  contact  with  all  growing 
plants,  their  supply  might  be  deemed  inexhaustible,  provided  they 
possessed  the  power  of  attracting  and  arresting  it,  and  taking  up 
and  assimilating  the  carbon  of  the  gas.  But  this  power  seems  to 
be  not  fully  exerted  under  ordinary  circumstances.  The  other 
great  elements,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  azote  are  in  unlimited 
quantity  surrounding  plants,  as  constituents  of  the  atmosphere,  or 
entering  and  filling  the  bodies  of  plants  as  the  constituents  of  wa- 
ter. And  as  the  atmosphere  always  contains,  in  large  proportion, 
water  dissolved  by  heat,  that  is,  the  water  itself  being  in  gaseous 
form,  therefore  the  ordinary  atmosphere  alone  offers  to  plants  all 
the  four  great  elements  required  to  constitute  nearly  their  whole 
substance.  If  tben  we  suppose  that  the  very  small  proportions  of 
necessary  salts,  found  in  the  ashes  of  plants,  are  already  in  the 
soil  (as  is  generally  the  case),  or,  if  not  naturally  present,  to  be 
supplied  by  art,  it  is  manifest  that  all  cultivated  plants,  on  all 
soils — and  on  the  most  barren  not  appreciably  less  than  on  the 
richest — have  at  hand  unlimited  supplies  of  all  materials  required 
for  their  sustenance  and  growth.  But  the  power  to  seize  upon 
these  materials  is  either  wanting,  or  possessed  but  to  a  strictly 
limited  extent.  And  it  is  in  proportion  to  the  power  to  use  them, 
and  not  to  the  abundance  of  the  resources  present,  that  the  sup- 
port and  growth  of  plants  are  regulated. 

The  proportions  of  the  atmospheric  constituents  of  each  particu- 
lar vegetable  product  (as  gluten,  starch,  sugar,  wax,  &c.)  seem  to 
be  uniform ;  and  of  each  of  the  more  compound  products  of  a  par- 
ticular plant  (as  its  seeds,  flowers  and  leaves,  bark,  wood,  &c.,  of 
like  age  and  kind),  the  constituents  seem  to  approach  uniformity 
of  proportions ;  so  that  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  differences  are 
caused  by  differences  of  conditions,  of  wants  and  supplies;  and  that, 
under  like  conditions,  the  constituents,  organic  and  inorganic,  would 
be  in  like  propositions.  But  the  quantities  of  the  simpler  pro- 
ducts of  plants  of  like  kind  (as  gluten  or  starch  in  wheat,  sugar 
in  beets,  &c.)  vary  greatly,  and  of  course  cause  variation  in  the 
proportions  of  elementary  constituents  of  the  entire  plant.  Es- 
pecially does  the  proportion  of  azote  vary  in  like  plants,  under 
different  circumstances  of  supply,  even  when  the  other  constituents 
vary  but  little.  Boussingault  found  the  following  proportions  in 
21* 


246  NITROGEN   IN   PLANTS. 

wheat  of  the  same  variety,  but  of  -which  one  sample  was  taken 
from  garden  ground,  very  rich,  and  the  other  from  the  ordinary 
soil  of  his  field,  and  of  course  comparatively  poor.  The  growths 
were  of  the  same  year,  and  the  same  farm,  and  therefore  the  influ- 
ences of  weather  the  same. 

'"FROM   THE    OPEN   FIELD.  FROM    THE    GARDEN'   CROOT). 

45.51 

.       5.67 

43.00 

.       3.51 

2.31 


Carbon, 

46.10 

Hydrogen, 

.       5.80 

Oxygen,       . 

43.40 

Azote,    . 

.       2.29 

Ashes, 

2.41 

100.00  100.00 

"In  the  produce  of  the  garden  ground  there  were  21.94  per 
cent,  of  gluten  and  albumen  [the  products  of  wheat  which  only 
contained  azote] ;  in  that  of  the  open  field  no  more  than  14.81  per 
cent,  of  the  same  principles." — (Rural  Economy,  &c,  p.  176.) 

The  cursory  reader  would  perhaps  be  struck  only  by  the  general 
agreement  of  the  proportions  of  the  constituents  of  these  two 
samples  of  wheat  grown  on  such  different  soils.  But  while  there 
is  such  near  approach  to  equal  proportions  of  the  three  larger  con- 
stituents, the  azote,  smallest  in  quantity,  but  the  most  important 
for  its  quality,  is  shown  to  be  increased  in  proportion  more  than 
50  per  cent,  by  the  richer  soil. 

Thus  the  smallest  but  richest  element,  azote,  would  seem  to  be  ob- 
tained by  plants  principally  or  entirely  through  their  roots,  and  from 
the  soil.  Therefore,  the  supply  to  plants  is  in  no  degree  increased  by 
the  prodigious  quantity  of  azote  in  the  atmosphere.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  carbon,  which  constitutes  about  half  the  dry  weight  of 
all  plants,  is  supplied,  for  much  the  larger  part,  from  the  carbonic 
acid  gas  of  the  atmosphere,  through  the  leaves,  and  thus  is  fixed 
in  and  assimilated  to  the  plant.  Carbon  is  the  only  one  of  the 
four  great  elements  found  in  air  or  water  which  is  presented  (by 
the  atmosphere)  to  plants  in  small  quantity,  and  apparently  in  in- 
sufficient quantity  for  the  supply  of  their  leaves.  Therefore,  I 
infer  that  to  increase  the  nourishment  and  growth  of  plants  it  is 
not  only  necessary  to  increase  the  supply  of  azotized  manures 
through  the  soil  to  their  roots,  but  also  (if  possible),  to  increase 
the  supply  of  carbonic  acid  to  the  leaves;  or  to  increase  their 
power  to  take  up  the  supply  actually  present  in  the  surrounding 
atmosphere.*     As  to  the  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  they  will  be  sup- 

*  Professor  Liebig  maintains  that  all  the  azote  taken  up  by  plants  is 
through  their  roots,  and  of  course  derived  immediately  from  the  soil. 
Boussingault  infers,  from  some  very  interesting  experiments,  to  -which  I 
shall  again  advert,  that  some  azote  is  also  taken  directly  from  the  atmos- 
phere, at  least  by  leguminous  plants.     The  latter  author,  agreeing  with 


SUPPLY   OP   ORGANIC   PARTS   TO   PLANTS.  247 

plied  from  the  air  and  water  in  any  quantities  required  in  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  of  carbon  and  azote  derived  from  all  sources. 
Chemists  seem  to  concur  in  the  opinion  that  plants  exert  the  power 
to  decompose  water  received  through  their  roots  into  their  sap 
vessels,  and  to  assimilate  the  results  of  the  decomposition,  hydro- 
gen and  oxygen,  in  requisite  proportions.  Besides  all  other  reasons 
in  support  of  this  opinion,  its  truth  may  be  inferred  from  the 
established  fact  that  in  many  vegetable  substances  the  constituents 
of  hydrogen  and  oxygen  are  present  in  precisely  the  proportions 
which  serve  to  constitute  water. 

If  then  enough  azote  and  carbon  be  furnished  to  growing  plants, 
enough  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  will  be  at  the  same  time  taken  up . 
and  assimilated,  by  the  plant's  own  natural  powers. 

The  foregoing  views  seem  to  offer  the  only  plausible  explanation 
of  that  great  mystery  of  vegetable  life,  that  plants  on  barren  land 
should  pine  or  starve,  when  surrounded  by  unlimited  supplies,  in 
air  and  water,  of  their  necessary  elements. 

The  supply  of  azote  to  the  roots  must  be  limited  to  the  amount 
of  azotized  matters  already  in  the  soil,  and  to  such  subsequent 
additions  as  can  be  furnished  in  prepared  putrescent  manures,  or 
in  the  azotized  green  or  dry  products  of  the  land  left  there  to  de- 
cay. If  we  could  also  increase  the  supply  of  carbonic  acid  in  the 
atmosphere,  the  benefit  to  plants  would  be  as  great  as  the  giving 
of  azote  in  manure.  It  has  been  proved  by  experiments,  that  of  \ 
different  plants  kept  in  confined  artificially  composed  atmospheres,  \ 
those  grew  best,  which  had  carbonic  acid  in  much  larger  propor- 
tion than  is  in  the  natural  atmosphere.  (Boussingault,  p.  36.)  ' 
To  increase  the  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  diffused  through  the 
atmosphere,  to  any  useful  or  even  appreciable  extent,  is  beyond  the 
power  of  man.  But  the  desired  results  of  such  increase  would  be 
reached  in  some  measure  by  enabling  plants  to  inhale  and  assimi- 
late more  than  their  share  of  the  general  supply  of  carbonic  acid 
in  the  whole  atmosphere.  This  is  partially  effected  for  all  vegeta- 
ble growth  by  the  winds,  which  continually  renew  the  air  in  con- 
most  other  late  and  high  authorities,  supposes  the  carbon  of  plants  to  be 
derived  principally  from  the  atmosphere,  and  through  the  leaves,  but  also 
in  part  from  the  earth  and  through  the  roots.  Liebig  asserts  that  carbon 
is  furnished  altogether  through  the  leaves,  except  during  germination;  and 
none  through  the  roots,  after  the  opening  of  the  earliest  leaves  from  the 
seed.  This  opinion  seems  to  involve  the  absurd  position  that  the  carbona- 
ceous (dark-coloured)  part  of  manure,  usually  deemed  evidence  of  richness 
in  manure  and  in  soil,  is  of  no  use  to  plants  through  their  roots ;  nor 
otherwise,  except  to  furnish,  more  carbonic  acid  to  the  atmosphere.  In  this 
event,  the  manure,  by  its  carbonaceous  part,  may  possibly  assist  the 
growth  (through  the  leaves)  of  the  plants  growing  nearest.  But  if  any 
wind  was  blowing  when  the  gas  rose  from  the  earth,  the  manure  would  be 
as  likely  to  take  effect  on  distant  as  on  the  nearest  plants,  even  if  not  car- 
ried out  of  reach  of  all  for  the  time  being. 


248  SUPPLY  OP  CARBON  TO  PLANTS. 

tact  with  plants,  removing  that  which  had  given  up  its  carbonic 
acid,  and  bringing  new  supplies  from  the  upper  or  lower  air.  It  Las 
also  been  proved  that  plants  grow  faster  in  agitated  than  in  still 
air.  (Boussingault,  p.  42.)  This  effect  of  winds  is  general — ope- 
rating with  nearly  equal  benefit  on  all  neighbouring  localities ;  and 
this  also  of  course  is  not  within  man's  control,  or  even  under  his 
partial  direction. 

There  is  still  another  mean,  by  which  possibly  the  desired  end 
may  be  attained.  Though  we  cannot  increase  the  supply  of  car- 
bonic acid,  or  bring  more  of  the  actually  existing  supply  in  con- 
tact with  the  leaves  of  plants,  yet  if  we  can  stimulate  the  plants  to 
attract,  seize  upon,  and  rapidly  absorb  the  contiguous  carbonic 
acid,  instead  of  the  much  greater  part  passing  by  and  escaping  from 
the  otherwise  feebler  attracting  powers  of  plants,  then  the  same 
object  would  be  effected  as  if  by  actual  increase  of  the  supply  of 
carbonic  acid.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  such  greater 
stimulation  of  the  appetite  of  plants  and  increased  power  of  taking 
up  carbonic  acid  is  to  be  conferred  by  the  application  of  various 
manures ;  but  more  especially  and  in  greater  measure  by  the  use 
of  calcareous  manures ;  as  I  shall  endeavour  to  show. 

Universal  as  is  this  function  of  growing  plants  of  absorbing  and 
fixing  the  carbon  of  the  atmosphere — essential  as  it  is  to  their 
existence — and  largely  as  it  is  exercised  to  the  extent  of  thereby 
obtaining  much  the  larger  part  of  one-half  the  whole  dry  weights 
of  plants — still  this  power  is  strictly  limited  by,  or  only  exerted 
under,  certain  known  conditions.     It  is  by  their  atter  only 

that  plants  absorb  carbonic  acid,  and  that  under  the  stimulating 
influence  of  light  Through  all  the  day,  and  by  all  their  leaves 
and  other  green  parts,  plants  are  absorbing  carbonic  acid  from  the 
air,  and  assimilating  and  fixing  its  carbon,  and  evolving  the  oxygen 
gas,  the  other  constituent  element  of  the  carbonic  acid.  But  this 
operation  always  ceases  with  the  withdrawal  of  light ;  and  even  a 
reverse  operation,  to  smaller  extent,  proceeds  during  the  night, 
when  the  leaves  actually  evolve  some  of  the  larger  quantity  of  car- 
bonic acid  which  had  been  absorbed  during  the  previous  day!'. 
It  is  well  known  that  any  plant,  or  single  branch  of  a  plant, 
secluded  from  light,  does  not  accpiire  the  usual  green  colour,  but 
remains  white.  In  this  state,  the  white  leaves  and  stems  exert 
very  little  power,  if  any,  in  absorbing  carbon.  If  the  whole  of 
any  plant  is  kept  in  the  dark  during  its  growing  state,  it  must 
soon  die,  for  want  of  this  essential  source  of  sustenance. 

1.    Calcareous  earth  causes  plants  to  draw  more  carbon  from  the 
atmosphere. 

The  vigorous  growth  of  plants,  and  the  intensity  or  depth  of 
their  green  colour,  always  go  together  and  in  proportion  to  each 


CALX   INCREASING   THE   SUrPLY   OF   CARBON.  249 

other.  We  must  correctly  infer  that  the  deeper  the  green  colour, 
from  whatever  cause  it  may  proceed  in  part  (as  rich  manuring, 
bright  sunlight,  or  moist  season),  the  greater  must  be  the  absorp- 
tion of  carbon  by  the  leaves  of  the  plant.  Therefore,  if  in  any 
manner  the  intensity  of  the  green  colour  of  plants  is  increased,  it 
is  equivalent  to  giving  them  the  power  of  absorbing  and  assimilat- 
ing more  carbon,  and  with  that  (as  before  stated),  the  power  of 
taking  up  and  assimilating  the  required  proportional  quantities  of 
oxygen  and  h}'drogcn. 

Now  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  manifest  effects  produced  by 
adding  calcareous  earth  to  a  soil  before  extremely  needing  that  ma- 
nure, is  to  give  a  deeper  green  colour  to  the  plants.  This  effect  is 
so  remarkable  on  young  corn,  growing  on  soil  previously  acid  and 
recently  marled,  that  before  the  plants  are  four  inches  high,  the 
outlines  of  the  spot  made  calcareous  may  be  distinctly  seen  and 
easily  traced  by  any  observer,  merely  by  the  strong  contrast  be- 
tween the  deep  green  colour  of  the  plants  on  one  side,  and  the 
pale,  yellowish,  and  sickly  green  of  the  other;  and  this  before  there 
is  any  obvious  difference  of  size  of  the  plants.  And  this  difference 
of  colour  remains  so  strongly  impressed,  that  a  strip  of  corn  thus 
treated,  when^f  more  advanced  growth,  may  be  distinguished  at 
the  distance  of  half  a  mile,  if  exposed  to  view  §&  far. 

This  early  and  marked  effc^.  of*  calcareous  manures,  of  giving  a 
deep  green  cobra?  to  plants,  I  had  formerly  ascribed  solely  to  the 
neutralizing  of  the  noxious  acid  of  the  soil.  And  this  is  doubtless 
the  cause  in  part.  But  more  extended  observations,  and  the  abid- 
ing effects  of  this  kind,  induced  me  to  believe  that  a  direct,  as 
well  as  the  supposed  indirect  action  was  produced.  But  from 
whatever  cause  it  proceeds,  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  increase 
of  green  colour  is  accompanied  by  proportionate  increase  of  sup- 
plies of  atmospheric  food  to  the  plants,  and  proportionate  increased 
products  of  the  crops  for  the  food  of  animals,  and  for  food  (or 
manure)  for  the  soil. 

One  other  well-known  agricultural  fact  will  be  cited  in  support 
of  this  position.  When  gypsum  (sulphate  of  lime)  is  applied  to 
clover,  on  a  neutral  soil  (where  there  is  no  injurious  excess  of  acid 
to  affect  the  crop,  or  to  be  removed  by  lime),  and  the  gypsum  acts 
well,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  striking  evidences  of  its  benefi- 
cial action  is  seen  in  the  deeper  green  colour  of  the  clover  dressed, 
compared  to  any  omitted  portions.  This  effort,  however  produced 
(as  said  before),  is  equivalent  and  proportioned  to  an  increased  ab- 
sorption of  carbon  from  the  atmosphere ;  and,  as  in  the  previous 
case,  must  be  ascribed  to  the  increased  power  of  absorption  given 
to  the  clover  by  the  lime  which  is  the  base  of  the  gypsum. 

It  may  perhaps  be  questioned  that  such  great  effect  can  be  pro- 
duced by  the  operation  of  so  small  a  quantity  of  lime  as  is  con- 


250  CALX   INCREASING   TIIE   SUITLY   OF  CARBON. 

tained  in  a  bushel  of  gypsum,  the  ordinary  dressing  for  an  acre. 
But  gypsum  is  easily  soluble  in  enough  pure  water,  and  would 
find  enough  in  the  earth  furnished  by  rain  for  its  speedy  solution ; 
whereas  carbonate  of  lime  is  insoluble  in  water,  unless  with  the 
addition  of  carbonic  acid.  Therefore  it  may  follow,  tbat  even  from 
a  bushel  of  the  soluble  gypsum,  the  crop  may  draw  up  lime  more 
readily  and  abundantly  for  the  time,  than  from  100  bushels,  or 
more,  of  insoluble  carbonate  of  lime.  Boussingault  ascribes  the 
great  effect  of  gypsum  to  its  easy  solubility  in  water,  and  its  thus 
readily  furnishing  dissolved  lime  to  the  roots  and  to  the  body  of 
the  plant.  Though  this  is  not  at  all  a  satisfactory  cause  for  all  the 
wonderful  operation  of  gypsum  on  clover  (and  still  less  to  explain 
its  very  frequent  want  of  effect),  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
authority  for  the  fact  that  the  gypsum  (or  its  lime)  may  be  easily 
so  received  into  the  sap  of  the  body  of  the  clover.  And,  as  analysis 
has  shown  that  1000  lbs.  of  dry  clover  hay  contains  27  lbs.  of 
lime  (Sprengel,  quoted  by  Johnston,  p.  220),  and  100  lbs.  of  sul- 
phate of  lime  freed  from  water  contains  41.5  lbs.  of  lime,  it  fol- 
lows that  this  quantity  would  suffice  for  the  healthful  constitution 
of  as  much  clover  as  would  be  converted  to  more  than  1500  lbs. 
of  dry  hay. 

The  chemical  fr^ts  which  have  been  cited  are  well  established, 
and  the  agricultural  facts  have  beeir  sbscrvd  by  very  many  prac- 
tical cultivators/  and  both  would  seen!  sufficient  to  establish  the 
position  that  lime  gives  to  plants  greatly  increased  power  for  ab- 
sorbing carbon  from  the  air.  But,  in  addition  to  these,  some  very 
interesting  and  apparently  accurate  experiments  have  furnished 
more  direct  and  certain  proof  of  the  results  above  mentioned. 
These  will  now  be  reported. 

When  nearly  all  the  sheets  of  the  preceding  edition  of  this 
essay  (1812)  had  been  printed,  embracing  the  whole  except  part 
of  the  Appendix,  I  first  heard  of  the  discovery  having  been  made 
by  Dr.  Win.  L.  Wight,  of  Goochland,  of  the  important  property  of 
calcareous  earth  now  under  consideration.  Forthwith  I  sought 
and  obtained  from  him  information  of  his  experiments  and  deduc- 
tions ;  and  with  his  permission,  a  concise  report  of  their  substance, 
together  with  such  introductory  and  explanatory  remarks  as  I 
deemed  required,  was  published  among  the  papers  of  the  Appendix 
which  theu  remained  to  be  printed. 

Soon  after  my  publication  as  above  stated,  Dr.  Wight  placed  his 
discovery  before  the  public  more  at  length  in  his  '•  Observations 
on  Vegetable  and  Animal  Physiology/'  printed  in  1843 ;  from 
which  publication  will  be  here  copied  all  that  applies  to  this  subject. 

After  referring  to  the  previous  edition  of  the  "  Essay  on  Calcare- 
ous Manures"  especially,  and  also  to  other  confirmatory  publications, 
tending   to   establish   both  the  fertilizing   and  health-preserving 


CALX   INCREASING   THE   SUPPLY   OP   CARBON.  251 

actions  of  calcareous  earth  in  soils,  Dr.  "Wight  proceeded  to  say 
that  in  his  consideration  of  the  subject  "it  became  a  question  of 
deep  interest  to  determine  what  was  the  peculiar  influence  of  lime 
in  the  process  of  vegetation ;  and  for  tbis  purpose  the  following 
experiments  were  instituted.  Seeds  of  wheat,  resting  upon  moist- 
ened cotton,  were  first  placed  in  glasses  of  water,  and  thus  allowed 
to  germinate.  When  two  or  more  plants  had  put  forth  five  roots, 
which  is  their  complement,  or  an  equal  number,  taking  especial 
care  that  those  experimented  with  should  have  an  equal  number 
of  roots,  this  being  the  test  of  their  being  equally  healthy,  they 
were  immediately  transferred,  balf  of  them  to  vessels  of  pure  rain- 
water, tbe  other  balf  to  vessels  of  rain-water  in  which  a  small  portion 
of  tbe  hydrate  of  lime  [or  slaked  quick  lime]  had  been  dissolved. 

"As  soon  as  the  first  leaf  had  attained  sufficient  lengtb,  they 
were  introduced  under  separate  receivers,  and  supplied  with  car- 
bonic acid.  It  was  soon  apparent,  however,  that  the  plants  growing 
in  the  pure  rain-water  threw  off  more  oxygen  than  the  others, 
though  the  difference  was  slight.  The  experiment  was  repeated 
witb  the  other  leaves,  as  they  were  successively  unfolded,  but  with 
no  better  success. 

"  Tbe  carbonate  of  lime,  or  lime  in  the  state  it  is  found  as  a 
natural  production,  was  now  substituted  for  tbe  hydrate.  Select- 
ing tbe  thin  pellicle  which  collects  upon  lime-water,  and  reducing 
it  to  a  fine  powder,  as  much  was  previously  dissolved  in  the  rain- 
water in  which  half  of  the  plants  were  to  grow  as  could  be,  by 
brisk  agitation  for  a  few  minutes  in  a  closed  bottle.  The  plants  to 
be  experimented  with  being  always, transferred  from  the  glasses  as 
soon  as  it  was  perceived  that  they  had  an  equal  number  of  roots. 
Previous  to  the  period  at  which  plants  become  dependent  upon  ex- 
terior influences,  the  effect  of  the  carbonate  of  lime  was  rather  to 
retard  than  to  quicken  the  decomposing  process ;  but  generally,  by 
the  time  the  second  leaf  had  fully  unfolded  itself,  and  always  in 
the  case  of  the  third,  the  greater  resistance  offered  to  the  touch, 
and  the  deeper  and  more  polished  tint  of  green,  inspired  anticipa- 
tions of  a  successful  result.  When  introduced  under  the  receiver, 
and  supplied  with  carbonic  acid,  these  anticipations  were  more  than 
fully  realized — tbe  plants  growing  in  rain-water  in  which  carbo- 
nate of  lime  had  been  previously  dissolved,  giving  off  two,  three, 
and  sometimes  four  volumes  of  oxygen  to  one  disengaged  by  those 
growing  in  pure  rain-water;  and  for  every  volume  of  oxygen 
emitted,  an  equal  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  disappeared  from  the 
jar  containing  it.  These  experiments  were  frequently  and  care- 
fully repeated  with  the  other  plants  cultivated  in  this  latitude, 
until  it  seemed  to  be  fully  ascertained  that  the  influence  of  the  \ 
carbonate  of  lime  in  the  process  of  vegetable  nutrition  consists  in  I 
increasing  the  action  of  plants  upon  the  light — in  so  modifying 


252  CALX   INCREASING   THE   SUI>PLY   OF   CARBON. 

their  constitution  as  to  dispose  them  to  reflect,  under  the  ordinary 
defects  of  climate  and  season,  their  natural  green;  and,  by  con- 
necting this  power  with  the  other  and  well-known  events  in  the 
series,  viz.  the  more  active  decomposition  of  carbonic  acid,  where- 
by more  carbon,  the  basis  of  vegetable  matter,  is  assimilated,  and 
more  oxygen  returned  to  the  atmosphere,  we  obtain,  as  is  conceived, 
a  consistent  explanation  of  the  action  of  lime,  both  in  the  pro- 
motion of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  in  the  restoration  of  the 
air  to  its  purity."     Observations,  &c,  pp.  9,  10. 

These  interesting  experiments  have  still  later  been  repeated  by 
Dr.  Wight,  and  always  with  the  like  results.  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion of  the  care  and  accuracy  with  which  they  have  been  conducted  j 
and  very  little  ground  to  object  to  the  conclusiveness  of  the  posi- 
tion which  the  results  demand — that  is,  that  the  effect  of  carbonate 
of  lime,  acting  through  the  roots  of  the  plants,  enabled  them  to 
absorb  and  to  assimilate  at  least  more  than  a  doubled  quantity  of 
carbon,  and  consequently  to  disengage  more  than  a  doubled  quan- 
tity of  oxygen  gas,  formed  by  the  decomposition  of  the  carbonic  acid 
taken  in  by  the  plants.  The  only  apparent  defect  in  the  process 
is  one  which  is  unavoidable.  This  is,  that  the  wheat  (or  other) 
plants  were  made  to  grow  with  their  roots  in  water,  a  situation 
contrary  to  their  nature  and  wants;  instead  of  in  dry  soil,  con- 
formable to  both.  But  in  naming  this  unavoidable  defect,  I  do 
not  mean  to  convey  that  it  can  invalidate  the  results  of  the  experi- 
ments, or  even  reduce  their  measure  in  any  very  important  extent. 

But  there  is  one  deduction  which  Dr.  Wight  seems  to  have 
made,  to  which  it  is  scarcely  lipcessary  for  me  to  announce  my 
dissent.  While  I  fully  admit  that  he  has  first  indicated,  and  at 
least  gone  far  to  establish  by  his  experiments,  one  of  the  very  im- 
portant properties  and  powers  of  calcareous  earth,  as  a  fertilizing 
manure  (and  also  as  a  sanitary  agent),  still  I  do  not  agree  that  this 
is  its  sole  or  even  the  most  important  mode  of  operating,  for 
either  end. 

The  bearing  of  Dr.  Wight's  experiments  on  the  effect  of  calca- 
reous manures  in  preserving  health,  will  be  referred  to  when  that 
subject  shall  come  under  consideration.  All  reference  to  this 
branch  of  the  subject  in  this  chapter  was  incidental  and  in  advance 
of  the  designed  and  more  appropriate  place. 

The  power  given  by  calcareous  earth  to  pfents  to  draw  carbonic 
acid  much  more  copiously  from  the  atmosphere,  which  Dr.  Wight 
so  admirably  deduced  from  actual  experiments,  might  previously 
have  been  inferred  from  the  observations  of  alleged  facts  made  by 
practical  cultivators.  But  the  statement,  hidden  in  the  German 
of  the  agricultural  chemist  Sprengcl,  probably  first  was  disclosed 
in  this  country  in  the  recently  published  "  Lectures"  of  Johnston, 
whose  words  I  will  quote.  This  author,  referring  to  Sprengcl, 
says :  "  He  states  that  it  has  very  frequently  been  observed  in 


GYPSUM   INCREASING   THE   SUITLY   OF   CARBON.  253 

Holstein.  that  if,  on  an  extent  of  level  ground  sown  with  corn, 
some  fields  he  marled  and  others  left  unmarled,  the  corn  on  the  latter 
portions  will  grow  less  luxuriantly,  and  will  yield  a  poorer  crop 
than  if  the  loholc  had  been  unmarled.  Hence,  he  adds,  if  the 
occupier  of  the  unmarled  field  would  not  have  a  succession  of  poor 
crops,  he  must  marl  his  land  also. 

"  Can  it  really  be,"  continues  Johnston,  "  that  Nature  thus  re- 
wards the  diligent  and  the  improver?  Do  the  plants  which  grow 
ol^a  soil  in  higher  condition  take  from  the  air  more  than  their  due 
share  of  the  carbonic  acid  or  other  vegetable  food  it  may  contain, 
and  leave  to  the  tenants  of  the  poorer  soil  a  less  proportion  than 
they  might  otherwise  draw  from  it?"  (p.  101.)  Like  most  other 
readers,  probably,  I  cannot  venture  to  answer  these  questions 
affirmatively.  But  if  indeed  calcareous  earth  in  soil  gives  to  plants 
the  power  to  seize  upon  and  assimilate  a  much  larger  amount  of 
carbonic  acid,  it  may  well  follow  that  other  adjacent  plants,  not  so 
endowed,  may  in  •  the  contest  fail  to  obtain  their  previously  due 
share  of  the  always  very  small  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  gas  in 
the  atmosphere. 

In  connexion  with  these  interesting  statements,  I  will  add  an- 
other, which  is  fully  believed  by  many  persons,  and  which  I  have 
also  heard  asserted  by  one  of  the  best  practical  farmers  of  Virginia, 
and  who  is  also  an  intelligent  and  judicious  observer.  The  opinion 
referred  to  is,  that  if  a  narrow  strip  of  a  clover-field  be  omitted,  for 
experiment  and  observation,  when  all  the  adjoining  ground  is 
dressed  with  gypsum  (sulphate  of  lime),  and  the  manure  acts  well, 
that  the  omitted  strip  will  produce  worse  clover  than  it  would  have 
done  if  no  gypsum  was  near.  The  farmers  who  maintain  this  pro- 
position, do  so  simply  upon  having  observed  (as  they  conceive) 
such  facts.  They  had  no  theoretical  views  to  support  by  such  a  fact, 
and  indeed  they  did  not  pretend  to  offer  a  supposed  cause  for  such 
an  effect.  For  my  own  part,  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  observ- 
ing any  such  facts,  and  will  neither  affirm  nor  deny  such  to  have 
been  accurately  observed  by  others.  But  such  results  seemed  so 
unsupported  by  reason,  that  at  first  I  deemed  the  observations 
mistaken,  and  the  statements  not  worth  any  consideration.  But  by 
applying  the  obvious  deductions  from  Dr.  Wight's  experiments, 
these  before  (supposed)  irrational  and  incredible  results  may  appear  y 
well  sustained,  both  in  regard  to  their  accuracy  and  their  causation./ 

2.  Lime  in  soil  increases  the  effect  of  azotized  manures,  and, 
through  leguminous  plants,  draws  azote  also  from  the  atmo- 
sphere. 

The  quantity  of  carbon  in  plants,  or  in  different  products  of 
plants,  amounts,  in  some  subjects,*to  more  than  one-half  of  the 
whole  weight  of  the  dry  plant  or  product ;  and  in  all  other  cases  it 
22 


254  AZOTE   IN   PLAXXS. 

falls  not  much  below  that  proportion.  According  to  Professor 
Liebig,  the  whole  of  the  carbon  in  plants  is  derived,  through  their 
leaves,  from  the  atmosphere;  and  Buussingault,  whose  authority  I 
respect  much  more  highly,  says :  '•  From  all  we  have  seen  up  to 
this  time,  we  feel  authorized  to  conclude  that  the  greater  proportion, 
if  not  the  whole,  of  the  carbon  which  enters  into  the  composition 
of  vegetables,  is  derived  from  the  atmosphere."  (p.  42.)  All  other 
chemical  authorities  concur  in  maintaining  that  at  least  much  the 
larger  part  of  the  carbon  received  by  and  fixed  in  plants,  is  taken 
from  the  atmosphere  through  the  leaves.  How  very  great,  then, 
must  be  the  proportion  of  vegetable  nutriment  and  support,  and  of 
materials  for  growth  and  increase,  derived  exclusively  from  the  air ! 
For  it  is  not  only  that  nearly  half  their  quantity  is  thus  obtained 
in  their  carbon  alone,  and  they  also  take  up  from  water,  whether 
in  the  air  or  in  the  soil,  nearly  as  much  as  of  carbon,  in  hydrogen 
and  oxygen ;  which,  though  always  present  in  enormous  super- 
abundance, cannot  be  thus  used  by  plants,  except  in  strict  propor- 
tion to  the  carbon  assimilated.  All  these  quantities,  then,  which 
the  atmosphere  supplies  either  exclusively,  or  may  supply,  as  in 
regard  to  water,  probably  amount  always  to  full  four-fifths  of  the 
substance  of  all  vegetable  products;  leaving  but  one-fifth,  at  most, 
to  be  derived  from  the  soil,  or  having  any  direct  dependence  on  the 
condition  of  fertility  of  the  soil. 

Further  :  of  this  small  proportion  of  vegetable  growth  and  sub- 
stance derived  from  and  dependent  on  the  contents  of  the  soil — 
say  one-fifth,  at  most,  and  generally  not  more  than  one-tenth  part 
— a  quantity  which  varies  much  in  different  plants,  but  on  an 
average  making  more  than  half  of  this  proportion  derived  from  the 
soil  alone,  consists  of  inorganic  elements ;  while  the  remainder,  of 
about  1  to  4  per  cent,  only  of  the  whole  plant,  is  of  azote,  which 
K  (  is  either  wholly  or  principally  a  part  of  the  matter  derived  from 
the  contents  of  the  soil.  (See  Table  on  p.  244.)  Yet  is  this  very 
small  supply  of  azote  all-important  to  the  support  and  product  of* 
plants  ;  and  its  being  duly  supplied  in  organic  manures,  or  other- 
wise, is  the  great  and  essential  operation  of  all  improvement  of 
crops  through  the  improvement  of  soils.  In  considering,  then,  the 
value  of  azote,  we  must  take  care  not  to  measure  its  importance  by 
its  always  small  quantity  in  soils,  manures,  or  plants,  but  by  the 
great  and  essential  operation  of  this  element,  and  which  even  in 
this  small  quantity  it  produces.  Azote  is  eminently  the  enriching 
part  of  all  putrescent  manures,  and  of  all  vegetable  products  serv- 
ing as  food  for  animals.  The  most  enriching  of  animal  manures 
abound  most  in  azote ;  and,  above  all,  the  excrements  of  carnivorous 
animals,  whose  food  is  also  rich  in  azote.  Next  in  order  stand  the 
excrements  of  animals  fed  on  the  most  highly  azotized  vegetable 
food.     Vegetable  matters,  compared  to  animal,  in  general  have  but 


AZOTE   IN   TLANTS. 


255 


little  azote;  and,  as  we  all  know,  when  used  alone,  make  much, 
poorer  manure.  But  even  among  different  vegetables  forming 
ordinary  farm  products,  there  are  great  differences  in  their  propor- 
tions of  azote,  and  also  in  their  sources  of  supply  of  this  rich 
ingredient ;  and  according  to  such  differences  are  the  respective 
values  of  crops  for  food,  and  more  especially  their  powers  as  im- 
provers or  exhausters  of  the  soils  on  which  they  grow.  The  in- 
vestigation and  attempt  at  elucidation  of  this  last  branch  of  the 
subject  is  the  object  of  the  next  following  pages. 

Boussinganlt  reports  (from  the  results  of  analyses  by  himself  and 
Payen,  in  conjunction)  the  proportions  of  azote  contained  in  nume- 
rous vegetable  and  animal  substances  (at  p.  297,  Rural  Economy), 
from  which  the  following  extracts  of  some  ordinary  manuring  ma- 
terials will  serve  as  examples  : — 


Ordinary  farm-yard  manure,  100  parts,  dry,  contained  of 
azote  ........ 

Richer  manure,  from  an  inn-yard     - 

Wheat-straw  of  Alsace  [presumed  from  ordinary  soil] 

Do.,  from  environs  of  Paris  [presumed  much  richer  soil] 

Rye-straw  of  Alsace 

Do.,  environs  of  Paris     . 

Oat-straw      ..... 

Barley-straw  . 

W  heat-chaff  .... 

Pea-straw  [or  vines,  &c] 

Clover  roots  .... 

Oilcake  of  flax-seed 

Do.  cotton-seed      .... 

Solid  cow-dung      .... 

Solid  horse-dung    .... 

Guano  ..... 

Dried  muscular  flesh 

"Woollen  ra£S  .... 


1.95 

2.08 
0.30 
0.53 
0.20 
0.50 
0.3G 
0.26 
0.94 
1.95 
1.77 
G.00 
4.52 
2.30 
2.21 
G.20 
14.25 
20.26 


"While  I  do  not  deem  the  azotic  as  the  only  fertilizing  parts  of 
putrescent  manures,  nor  concur  in  all  that  Boussinganlt  seems  to 
claim  for  their  preponderance  of  operation,  still  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  azote  of  all  organic  manures  constitutes  their  principal  and 
greatest  fertilizing  rpiality.  Hence,  we  may  learn,  that  if  by  any 
means,  and  from  new  or  additional  sources,  there  can  be  given  to 
plants  an  additional  supply  of  azote,  of  which  the  absolute  quantity 
would  be  so  small  as  to  seem  scarcely  worth  consideration,  yet  that 
there  would  be  added  relatively  as  much  amount  of  manuring  value 
as  a  larger  die-sing  of  ordinary  manure  could  supply.  And  a  due 
consideration  of  these  premises  will  serve  to  increase  the  estimate 


256  SOURCES  OP  SUPPLY  OF  AZOTE. 

of  the  importance  of  the  sources  of  supplies  of  azote  which  •will  be 
indicated.* 

Azote  is  mostly  derived  by  plants  from  the  soil  and  through 
their  roots.  This  is  made  evident  by  the  obvious  effects  of  all 
putrescent  manures,  and  the  superior  effects  of  those  known  to  be 
richest  in  azote.  13ut  it  seems  from  some  delicate  and  careful  ex- 
periments of  Boussingault's,  that  some  particular  plants,  and,  as 
far  as  known,  those  belonging  to  the  leguminous  or  pod-bearing 
kind  only,  possess  the  power  of  also  deriving  azote  from  the  atmo- 
sphere. This  power,  if  certain,  would  be  enough  to  explain  the 
reason  of  the  well  known  and  peculiar  value  of  leguminous  plants 
as  manuring  crops. 

This  eminent  chemist  and  practical  agriculturist  sowed  known 
quantities  of  the  seeds  of  different  kinds  of  plants  in  artificial  soils, 
composed  of  either  burnt  clay  or  silicious  sand,  which  had  been 
deprived  of  all  azotic  and  other  alimentary  manuring  principles  by 
sufficient  exposure  to  a  high  degree  of  heat.  In  other  cases,  young 
plants  were  removed  from  natural  soils  to  such  artificial  soil,  after 
being  completely  cleared  of  all  adhering  earth.  The  vessels  con- 
taining the  soils  and  plants  were  protected  from  receiving  dust,  or 
anything  else  from  without,  and  the  seeds  and  plants  therein  were 
duly  moistened  with  distilled  water.  The  plants,  in  some  cases, 
stood  until  mature ;  in  others,  for  shorter  terms.  Finally,  the 
several  kinds  were  analyzed,  as  had  been  done  of  the  like  kinds  of 
seeds,  or  transplanted  plants,  from  which  they  grew,  and  the  differ- 
ences of  contents  noted  (omitting  the  ashes,  or  inorganic  parts), 
as  shown  in  the  following  summary  of  the  results  : — 

*  Ordinary  barn-yard  manure,  which  has  been  heaped,  partially  fer- 
mented, and  is  half  rotted,  is  the  kind  which  M.  Boussingault  used  on  his 
farm  and  in  his  analyses.  Such  manure  was  considerably  richer  than  ours, 
made  with  fewer  and  worse-fed  cattle,  compared  to  the  large  proportion  of 
litter,  and  used  without  being  heaped  or  fermented.  His  manure,  also,  in 
a  heap,  would  necessarily  have  less  water.  Yet  he  estimates  the  water  alone 
at  from  75  to  80  per  cent,  of  his  manure.  Of  course,  when  dried,  as  stated 
in  the  preceding  table,  100  parts  of  such  manure  is  equal  to  at  least  400 
parts  in  the  heap ;  and,  therefore,  these  400  parts  in  ordinary  condition 
contain  only  1.95  parts  of  azote — or  less  than  the  half  of  one  per  cent, 
serving  to  constitute  the  principal  enriching  value  of  the  manure. 


AZOTE  SUPPLIED  FROM  THE  ATR. 


257 


Weight  (grain.*.) 

a 
1 
g 

d 

to 

2 

"3 

a 

UJ 

H 

O 

O 

< 

1st.  Clover  Beed  sown 

Plants  at  3  mouths,  from  same 

flain  by  growth    . 

24.48   consisting  of 
63.38 

38.90 

12.44 

32.141 

1.406 
4.183 

S.S15 

24.168 

1.759 
2.408 

+  19.70 

+2.717 

+15.840 

+0.049 

J.  1.  IN-jls  sown      .... 
Plants  (with  seeds  ripe)  from 
same 

Gnin  by  growth    . 

16.549     .... 

turn   .... 

7.950 
36.680 

1.005 
4.384 

6.523 
25.930 

0.710 
1.559 

62.01 

+2S.73 

+  3.319 

+19.11 

|  0.846 

3d.  Wheat  seed  sown 

Plants  from  same,  at  14  to  15 
inches  high 

Gain  by  growth    . 

25.38       .... 
45.05       .... 

11.S4 
22.47 

1.46 
2.67 

11.19 
20.57 

0.S7 
0.92 

21.27 

+10.63 

+1.21 

+9.38 

+0.05 

4th.  Young  clover  plants   . 

Same  after  63  days'  growth 

Gnin  by  growth    . 

13.04       .... 
34.96       .... 

5.92 
18.52 

0.74 
2.23 

6.46 
13.32 

0.50 
0.S04 

21.32 

+12.60 

+1.49 

+6.S6 

+0.35 

ath.  Young  oat  plants 

Same  after  48  days'  growth 

Gain  and  loss  in  growth     . 

12.967 

23.157 

1.636 

2.979 

8.770 
21.180 

0.910 
0.818 

+10.190 

+1.343 

+12.410 

—0.062 

The  above  table  is  an  epitome  of  tbe  results  of  tbe  five  experiments 
which,  with  the  full  explanations,  occupy  about  five  pages  of  the 
author's  work.  The  analyses  made  of  seeds  and  plants  at  the 
earliest  times,  were,  of  course,  of  other  samples,  of  like  kind  and 
quantities  of  seeds  to  those  sown,  and,  as  nearly  as  could  be,  of  the 
plants,  compared  to  those  transplanted.  The  results  show  the 
following  facts  : — 

As  the  artificial  soils  were  devoid  of  all  organic  or  nutritive 
matter,  the  gains  made  by  the  plants  were  derived  entirely  from 
pure  (distilled)  water,  and  from  the  atmosphere.  The  increase  in 
azote,  of  course,  could  have  been  obtained  from  the  atmosphere 
only. 

Besides  the  large  gains  made  during  growth,  by  all  the  plants, 
of  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  the  clover  of  1st  experiment 
increased  its  azote  by  more  than  half  the  quantity  contained  in  the 
seeds  j  in  the  clover  of  4th  experiment,  the  azote  of  the  young 
plants  was  nearly  doubled  ;  and  in  2d  experiment,  the  azote  of  the 
peas  sown  was  more  than  doubled  in  the  crop. 

In  the  growth  of  wheat,  the  gain  of  azote  was  scarcely  appreci-  \ 
able  (and,  therefore,  perhaps  doubtful) ;  and  in  the  growth  of  oats, 
there  was  an  absolute  loss  of  azote. 

The  results  of  these  very  interesting  and  apparently  very  accu- 
rate experiments  (as  seen  in  the  author's  full  details),  exhibit,  in 
a  striking  manner,  how  largely  all  the  kinds  of  plants  possess  them- 
22  * 


258  BENEFIT   OF   CLOVER. 

selves  of  and  assimilate  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  all  drawn 
from  water  and  the  air  only  ;  and  also,  that  in  addition  to  these  ele- 
ments, the  leguminous  plants,  and  these  only,  drew  azote  from  the  air, 
assimilated  or  fixed  it  in  their  bodies,  and  thus  could  give  it  to  the 
soil  as  manure.  When  other  plants  contain  azote,  and  give  it  to 
the  soil  as  manure,  they  had  derived  the  whole  supply  previously 
from  the  soil,  and  therefore  there  was  no  gain  in  regard  to  that 

■best  element.  But  the  leguminous  plants,  deriving  part  of  their 
azote  from  the  atmosphere,  give  so  much  to  the  soil,  if  used  as 
manure,  more  than  the  soil  had  before  furnished.  This  peculiar 
power  of  leguminous  plants  is  an  important  cause  of  their  well- 
known  peculiar  value  as  manuring  crops. 

It  has  long  been  a  received  and  uncmestioned  opinion  among  in- 
telligent farmers,  that  the  growth  of  clover,  and  other  leguminous 
crops,  drew  away  from  the  soil  less  of  the  fertilizing  principles,  and 
returned  to  it  more,  than  any  others.  This  opinion  prevailed  in 
districts  where  most  of  the  product  of  clover  was  usuall}-  removed 
from  the  fields,  as  well  as  in  other  places  where  the  clover  was 
mostly  left  on  the  ground,  to  be  ploughed  under  as  manure.  In 
Lower  Virginia,  wherever  improvements  by  calcareous  manures  aud 
by  clover  have  correctly  gone  together,  and  however  the  rotations 
of  crops  may  differ  in  other  respects,  there  is  one  part  of  the  courses 
of  crops  generally  alike,  viz.,  the  succession  of — 1st,  Indian  corn  ; 
2d,  wheat  ;  3d,  clover;  and  4th,  wheat.  On  some  farms  (of  best 
Boil,  which  only  can  bear  such  severe  cropping),  this  is  the  whole 
course  constituting  a  four-shift  rotation.  On  others,  and  more 
generally,  a  fifth  year  is  added,  of  rest,  or  at  most  of  pasturage 
only,  and  interposed  between  the  fourth  crop,  wheat  on  clover,  and 
the  subsequent  recurrence  of  the  first  crop  in  the  series,  Indian 
corn.  In  either  case,  it  is  generally  believed  that  the  product  of 
the  second  crop  of  wheat,  sown  upon  clover  turned  under  as  manure, 
is  usually  about  double  that  of  the  first  crop  of  wheat  following 
corn,  though  the  immediately  preceding  corn  crop  had  received  all 
the  prepared  putrescent  manure  given.  This  great  difference  of 
production,  however,  is  not  altogether  due  to  the  clover  manure 
for  the  second,  or  "  fallow"  crop  of  wheat,  but  partly  to  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  first  crop  of  wheat  having  followed  another  grain 
crop,  which  is  a  vile  succession,  and  must  always  lessen  the  second 
or  immediately  succeeding  crop  more  thau  in  proportion  to  the  then 
actual  productive  powers  of  the  land.  In  my  own  practice,  as  in 
general  of  others,  there  have  been  no  separate  measurements  of 
these  two  nearest  crops  of  wheat,  or  any  parts  thereof,  fr.:>m  the 
same  land.  But  the  same  estimate  of  difference  has  been  made 
upon  merely  general  observation,  viz.,  that  the  wheat  after  clover 
was  usually  double  as  much  as  the  previous  wheat  after  corn  on 
the  same  field.     My  own  putrescent  manure,  frcm  stable  and  stock- 


BENEFIT   OP   CLOVER  TO  WIIEAT  SUCCEEDING.  259 

pens,  has  been  given  exclusively  as  top-dressing  to  the  clover,  which 
is  so  much  the  more  in  favour  of  the  succeeding  wheat. 

The  scientific  and  practical  farmer  as  well  as  able  chemist, 
Boussingault,  has  with  great  care  ascertained  the  usual  or  average 
quantities,  and  also  the  chemical  contents,  of  the  clover  and  all  the 
other  crops  of  his  rotation,  so  as  to  make  certain  the  results  which 
with  other  persons  would  rest  merely  on  supposition,  or  loose  esti- 
mates. On  his  farm,  Bechelbronn  in  Alsace,  he  says — "For  a 
long  time  a  five  years'  rotation  has  there  been  adopted  in  the  fol- 
lowing order  : — 

1st    year,  Potatoes,  or  beet-root,  manured. 

2d  "  Wheat,  sown  the  autumn  of  the  first  year;  clover  in 
the  spring. 

3d        "     Clover,  two  crops  [mown];  the  third  ploughed  in. 

4th      "      Wheat  on  the  clover  break;  turnips  after  the  wheat. 

5th      «      Oats. 

It  should  be  observed  of  this  rotation  that  the  first  crop  of  wheat 
was  preceded  by  potatoes,  a  forerunner  very  favourable  to  the  pro- 
duct of  the  succeeding  wheat;  and  still  more  so,  as  the  potato 
crop  had  all  the  manure  of  the  farm.  This  crop  of  wheat,  to  the 
acre,  averaged  20  bushels  and  31  lbs.  of  grain;  and  of  both  straw 
and  grain  4029  lbs.  The  clover  following  the  next  year  yielded 
2  crops  of  hay,  making  4675  lbs.  dry  (or  in  state  of  hay),  and  a 
third  crop,  ploughed  in  for  manure.  It  is  the  usage  in  Alsace  to 
mow  clover  very  young,  when  it  is  just  beginning  to  get  in  blossom  ; 
hence  the  two  mowings  must  have  been  removed  so  early,  as  to 
allow  the  third  growth  to  be  as  heavy  as  each  of  the  two  first. 
Counting  it  then  as  one-third  of  the  whole,  the  year's  product  of 
clover,  if  all  had  been  made  into  hay,  would  have  weighed  (4675-4- 
2037=)  7012  lbs.;  of  which  one-third  only  was  left  on  the  land 
as  manure.  After  all  this  abstraction  from  the  land,  and  also  the 
prepared  manure  having  been  applied  to  the  first  crop  of  the  rota- 
tion, the  wheat  following  the  clover  yielded  the  average  of  25  bush. 
21  lbs.  of  grain,  and  straw  and  grain  together  4979  lbs. 

This  rotation  is  general  in  Alsace ;  and  speaking  of  general  re- 
sults, M.  Boussingault  says — "  The  remarkable  effect  of  clover  [as 
a  manure  crop]  has  not  failed  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  most 
unobserving.  The  wheat  crop  which  comes  after  our  drill  crop  in 
Alsace,  beets  or  potatoes,  averages  from  18  to  20  bushels  per  acre ; 
but  the  wheat  succeeding  clover  averages  from  2o  to  24  bushels." 
(p.  360.) 

There  is  another  important  subject  for  consideration  and  com- 
parison of  clover  and  other  crops  (not  leguminous),  in  their  relative 
quantities  of  roots,  stubble,  or  other  residues,  or  offal  parts,  left  on 
the  land.  In  the  same  year  (1839),  when  the  season  was  not  pro- 
pitious to  cither  crop,  the  residues  were  taken  by  M.  Boussingault 


2G0  CAUSE  of  manuring:  value  of  clover. 

from  equal  spaces,  and  after  being  perfectly  cleared  of  the  adhe- 
ring earth,  were  dried,  weighed,  and  also  portions  of  each  analyzed. 
Of  the  two  crops  of  wheat  of  that  year,  averaged,  he  found  the 
whole  residue  of  stubble  and  roots  to  be  per  acre  : 

(from  grain,  weighing,  lbs.  1075)     lbs.     644 
Residue  of  clover 

stubble  and  roots  (from  hay,    lbs.  2292)     "     1833 

Residue  of  oat  stubble  and  roots  (from  grain,  lbs.  1862)     "       836 

(The  residues  of  wheat  and  oats  each  contained  per  acre  2  lbs.  of 
azote  only;  while  the  residue  of  the  clover  contained  26  lbs.  Of 
course  the  superiority  of  the  latter  in  quantity,  great  as  it  was  over 
the  other  residues,  was  still  greater  in  richness,  or  quality  for 
manuring. 

"While  all  persons  have  concurred  in  asserting  the  meliorating 
effects  of  clover  and  other  leguminous  crops,  there  has  been  as 
general  an  erroneous  agreement  as  to  the  cause  of  this  quality.  It 
has  been  assumed  by  our  scientific  instructors,  and  their  doctrine 
was  received  without  question,  that  plants  with  broad  leaves  ab- 
sorbed more  carbon  from  the  air,  and  hence  the  superiority  in  this 
respect  of  leguminous  plants  over  all  of  the  narrow-leaved  tribes. 
Never  was  there  an  opinion  more  generally  admitted  on  a  weaker 
foundation,  or  more  easy  to  overthrow.  Several  cultivated  crops, 
as  tobacco,  palma-christi.  cabbage,  turnip,  pumpkin,  and  other  like 
vines,  have  much  broader  leaves  than  any  of  the  legumes ;  but 
neither  of  these  has  ever  been  deemed  to  have  any  peculiar  power 
for  manuring  by  its  growth  and  decay  on  the  land.  Nearly  all 
forest  trees  also  have  very  broad  leaves,  and  they  exhibit  no  su- 
periority of  manuring  qualities  on  that  account,  whether  compared 
with  narrow-leaved  trees,  or  with  leguminous  crops.  But  is  enough 
to  refer  to  the  numerous  analyses  of  plants  reported  by  chemists, 
all  of  which,  like  those  in  the  table  copied  on  a  preceding  page 
(241)  go  to  show  that  clover,  beans,  peas,  vetches,  &c,  have  in 
general  no  larger  proportions  of  carbon  than  other  and  even  the 
most  exhausting  plants.  Indeed,  of  this  element  there  is  a  close  ap- 
proximation to  equal  proportions  in  all  plants  whose  constituent 
parts  have  been  reported.  The  proportion  usually  varies  between 
45  and  50  per  cent,  of  the  whole  dry  weight  of  the  plant.  From  all 
these  facts,  it  may  be  inferred  as  being  nearly  a  correct  rule,  that  in 
general  the  plants  or  crops  which  yield  the  greatest  quantity  of  total 
product  to  the  acre,  in  dry  weight,  will  have  taken  up  (from  all 
sources,  and  of  course  mostly  from  the  atmosphere)  the  largest 
amouut  of  carbon;  and  therefore  will  return  more  to  the  land  if 
left  to  act  as  manure.  We  must  then  look  to  other  powers  than 
that  of  absorbing  carbon  for  the  cause  of  the  superiority  of  clover 
as  manure — which,  as  Boussingault  says,  is  out  of  all  proportion 


VALUE   OP   THE   SOUTHERN   PEA.  261 

to  (he  quantity  of  the  crop  given  to  the  soil.  That  cause,  I  presume, 
will  be  found  partly  in  the  greater  product  and  quantity  of  residue 
to  the  acre  than  is  loft  by  most  other  crops;  but  still  more  because 
of  the  greater  quantity  of  azote  contained  in  the  residue  of  roots 
and  stubble,  as  well  as  of  the  crops  consumed  as  forage,  or  left  to 
be  ploughed  under,  and  in  both  cases,  though  in  different  ways, 
serving  as  manure  to  the  land. 

Of  grain  crops,  or  auy  others  which  take  all  their  contents  of 
azote  from  the  soil,  and,   if  sold  or  removed  from  the  farm,  those 
which  have  taken  up  and  removed  the  most  azote  from  the  land) 
must  be  the  most  exhausting  of  its  fertilizing  principles.     And  such 
would  be  the  leguminous  crops,  far  beyond  all  others,  if  they  came 
under  the  conditions  named,  as  they  contain  much  the  largest  quan- 
tities of  azote.     As  they  are  known  by  observation  to  be  among  the  \ 
least  exhausting,  even  when  removed  from  the  farm,  that  alone 
would   strongly  indicate,   what  Boussingault's  experiments   have 
proved,  that  these  crops  take  a  portion,  and  probably  the  larger 
portion,  of  their  azote  from  the  atmosphere.     Of  course,  when  re- 
turned to  the  earth  as  manure,  the  azote  so  drawn  from  the  air  is  I 
so  much  of  supply  of  the  richest  principle,  in  addition  to  all  others 
contained,  in  common  with  other  vegetable  substances.     We  can  \ 
supply  barn-yard  and  other  animalized  and  azotized  manures  to  our 
farms  only  in  limited  and  insufficient  quantities.     But  by  ploughing  "\ 
in  leguminous  manuring  crops,  azote  may  be  furnished  to  much 
greater  extent. 

Field  peas,  such  as  are  raised  in  England,  and  in  our  Northern 
States,  are  varieties  of  and  very  like  to  the  kinds  we  know  here  only 
as  garden  vegetables.  These  field  peas  contain  even  more  azote 
than  clover  does.  Lucerne  is  also  superior  to  clover  in  that  respect, 
and  European  field  beans  not  inferior.  All  these  plants  are  un- 
suited  to  our  climate,  or  unprofitable  for  culture  on  extensive 
spaces. 

But  we  have  a  leguminous  plant,  in  numerous  varieties,  native 
to  our  country,  and  little  known  except  in  Virginia  and  the  more 
Southern  States,  which,  as  a  green  manure,  and  meliorating  crop, 
is  scarcely  inferior  to  clover — and  for  some  qualities,  and  always  in 
more  southern  regions,  is  preferable  to  clover.  This  is  our  southern, 
or  "corn-field  pea,"  as  commonly  called,  from  being  most  generally 
raised  as  a  secondary  crop  among  corn.  In  truth  it  is  not  a  pea, 
but  a  Icon*     Of  this  plant,  I  know  of  no  chemical  analysis.     But 

*  Miller's  Gardener's  Dictionary  states  a  sufficiently  plain  distinction 
between  beans  and  peas,  by  describing  the  seeds  of  the  former  as  "  kidney- 
shaped,"  ami  the  latter  as  "roundish."  The  only  pea  known  to  mo  as  a 
cultivated  plant,  other  than  our  European  garden  peas,  has  very  small  and 
"roundish"  pale  green  seeds,  in  a  black  pod.  Even  this  is  more  like  the 
vetch  (vicia  saliva)  or  our  bad  weed  the  "partridge  pea,"  as  to  seeds  and 


2G2  AZOTE   SUPPLIED   THROUGH   TEA  CROPS. 

it  may  be  safely  inferred,  from  its  being  a  legume,  from  its  luxuri- 
ance of  growth,  and  also  from  all  of  the  little  careful  observation 

i  that  has  been  yet  directed  to  it,  that  our  native  southern  pea  or 
bean  is  a  fertilizer  t>f  great  value,  and  whose  value  in  this  respect  is 

Viust  beginning  to  be  understood.  My  own  experience  of  this  plant, 
in  field  culture,  is  but  a  few  years  old.  But  it  has  been  so  encourag- 
ing in  the  results,  that  I  have  already  extended  this  growth,  so  as  to 
make  it  occupy  an  entire  field,  and  to  make  an  important  part  of 
my  rotation.  It  is  too  soon  yet  to  rely  on  such  recent  facts  and 
observations.  But  so  far  as  tested  by  my  experience,  I  have  every 
reason  to  value  highly  this  as  a  manuring  crop,  and  especially  as  a 
preparatory  crop  for  wheat.* 

If  this  plant  was  not  an  annual,  and  requiring  (when  sown  sepa- 
rately as  a  fallow  or  manure  crop)  to  have  the  land  ploughed  for 
its  seeding,  it  would  be  more  valuable  than  clover.  This  defect  is 
however  in  one  aspect  an  advantage;  as  we  can  raise  the  crop  in 
three  or  four  months  from  the  seeding,  to  the  state  of  full  growth 
fit  for  ploughing  under,  with  more  certainty  of  success,  both  in  the 
standing  and  producing,  than  with  clover  in  sixteen  months  from 
the  sowing.  Farther  south,  the  growth  and  production  of  the  bean 
crop  becomes  better,  in  proportion  as  clover  becomes  more  precari- 
ous and  generally  unproductive. 

In  the  preceding  pages  I  have  endeavoured  to  explain  and  to 
establish  these  opinions  : 

1.  That  azote,  the  smallest  but  richest,  and  for  its  quantity  by 
far  the  most  important  element  and  ingredient  of  plants,  is  derived 
by  most  plants  exclusively  from  the  soil ; 

2.  That  plants  of  the  leguminous  tribe,  and  they  alone,  so  far  as 
known,  possess  and  exert  the  power  also  to  draw  azote  directly  from 
the  atmosphere,  assimilate  and  fix  in  their  bodies  this  richest  ma- 
terial, and  to  give  it  as  manure  to  the  soil  on  which  they  grow,  and 
are  left  to  decay; 

3.  That  owing  to  this  peculiar  power,  leguminous  plants  arc  the 
most  highly  enriching  to  soil,  as  manure. 

pods,  than  to  any  known  pea.     But  unlike  the  vetch,  it  is  not  a  vine,  but 
a  ehrub. 

*  The  varieties  of  these  beans  are  innumerable.  The  most  common  and 
best  known  as  an  excellent  table  vegetable,  is  the  "black-eyed  pea,"  of 
which  the  seed  is  white  with  a  black  spot  around  the  eye  or  germ.  This 
name,  made  doubly  incorrect,  is  extended  in  common  parlance,  and  in  lists 
of  prices-current,  to  all  the  varieties  of  this  crop,  and  seeds  of  various 
colours.     All  the  white  kinds  are  the  least  valuable  for  green  manuring 

Vcrops,  because  producing  least  vine  and  leaf.  The  greatest  "  runners,"  or 
producers  of  vines,  and  making  the  heaviest  cover  to  the  ground,  arc  all  late 

Cjpeas,  and  either  black,  red,  or  pale  buff  colour.  There  are  many  varieties, 
with  differences  of  time  and  manner  of  growth,  even  of  these  colours  :  and 
the  seeds  of  one  colour  not  distinguishable  from  other  kinds  of  like  colour. 


LIME   AIDING   LEGUMINOUS   PLANTS.  2G3 

Anil  that  the  important  benefits  thus  to  be  derived  arc  available 
only  through  the  aid  of  lime  in  soil,  is  the  important  deduction 
from  the  foregoing  positions,  as  premises,  'which  I  now  design  lo 
maintain. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  the  many  statements,  in  the  forego- 
ing portion  of  this  essay,  of  the  peculiar  aud  all-important  aid  and 
support  which  calcareous  matter  in  soils  furnishes  for  the  growth 
aud  luxuriance  of  leguminous  plants  especially.  In  some  small 
proportion,  lime  in  soil  is  essential  to  the  life  of  all  plants,  and  to 
even  the  poorest  product  from  all  cultivated  crops.  In  larger, 
though  it  may  still  be  but  very  small  proportion,  it  further  and 
greatly  improves  the  growth  and  production  of  all  cultivated  crops, 
and  all  except  acid  plants.  Aud  lime  in  greater  quantity  still,  in 
amount  serving  to  constitute  truly  calcareous  soil,  is  especially 
promotive  of  the  vigour  and  luxuriance  of  growth  of  all  leguminous 
plants,  and  even  essential  to  the  existence  of  some  of  them.  Saiut- 
foiu,  a  valuable  forage  plant  of  highly  calcareous  lands  in  Europe, 
cannot  live  in  any  natural  (non-calcareous)  soil  of  our  Atlantic 
slope.  Lucerne,  for  the  same  reason,  rarely  thrives  here,  and  never 
except  in  the  best  artificial  soils.  Red  clover,  the  chief  of  manuring 
and  forage  plants,  and  which  now  serves  as  one  of  the  principal  and 
essential  elements  of  our  present  improving  agricultural  system,  in 
connexion  with  the  use  of  calcareous  manures,  had  no  existence 
and  could  not  exist  in  field  culture  in  the  tide-water  region  before 
the  fittiug  the  soils  for  its  support,  by  the  use  of  marl  and  lime. 

To  the  next  most  important  legume  and  manuring  plant,  our 
field  pea  or  bean,  lime  in  quantity  is  as  much  conducive  to  its  greatest 
production,  as  to  clover;  but  it  is  not  so  essential  for  the  existence, 
and  moderate  productiveness,  of  this  kind  of  bean. 

3.    Operation  of  calcareous  earth  to  produce  nitrates  in   soil, 
and  compost  heaps. 

In  sundry  marginal  notes  to  the  foregoing  pages,  the  recent 
words  or  opinions  of  Prof.  Johnston  have  been  quoted,  to  show 
their  concurrence  with  my  own  earlier  stated  positions.  It  is  highly 
gratifying  to  me  that  such  confirmation,  having  such  authority, 
may  be  adduced  to  support  nearly  every  deduction  of  mine  that 
bears  strongly  upon,  or  would  either  direct  or  divert  practical  ope- 
rations. His  lecture  "  on  the  use  of  lime  as  a  manure,"  especially 
offers  a  copious  mass  of -information  on  this  subject,  both  scientific 
and  practical,  which  is  generally  correct,  and  more  instructive  than 
all  that  had  been  before  published  by  preceding  English  chemists 
and  agriculturists.  "When  so  many  points  of  agreement  appear  of 
this  scientific  work  with  mine,  which  has  so  little  preteusion  to 
science,  it  is  well  that  my  priority  of  publication  must  secure  mo 
from  any  possible  charge  of  plagiarism.    I  am  altogether  unqualified 


264  LIME    INDUCING   THE   FORMING   OF   NITFvATES. 

to  judge  of  many  of  the  chemical  doctrines  and  facts  presented  by 
Johnston;  but  infer  that  they  arc  among  the  unquestioned  results 
of  the  latest  and  ablest  chemical  researches.  As  a  matter  of  course, 
the  scientific  author  may  be  supposed  to  have  no  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  practical  farming.  But  his  numerous  agricultural  facts, 
though  received  from  other  persons,  are  not  less  the  fruits  of 
practice  and  observation,  and  therefore  are  worthy  of  much  respect, 
even  when  not  to  be  admitted  as  conclusive.  Though  knowing 
nothing  of  this  author,  except  from  his  book,  and  confessedly  unfit 
to  decide  on  the  correctness  of  many  of  its  scientific  positions, 
still  I  accept  this  work  as  the  latest  and  fullest  embodiment  and 
digest  of  the  now  received  doctrines  of  agricultural  chemistry  in 
Europe,  and  of  agriculture  in  England ;  and  so  esteeming  the  work, 
it  will  be  again  referred  to,  as  has  been  done  before,  whether  for 
support  of  my  own  positions,  as  in  many  previous  citations — or  to 
derive  new  lights  and  information,  as  now, — or  to  oppose  or  refute, 
as  has  been  attempted  in  other  cases. 

This  section  will  present  additional  effects  and  valuable  opera- 
tions of  calcareous  manures,  for  which  subjects,  either  wholly  or 
in  part,  I  am  indebted  to  Johnston,  and  to  whom  the  credit  due 
will  be  particularly  as  well  as  thus  generally  awarded.  The  most 
interesting  and  important  of  such  new  or  additional  positions,  is 
the  power  of  calcareous  earth,  in  soil,  or  in  compost  heaps  of 
manure,  to  form  nitrates  from  atmospheric  supply  of  material. 

The  same  two  elements,  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  which  when  in- 
termixed in  gaseous  form,  and  in  certain  uniform  proportions,  serve 
to  make  atmospheric  air,  will,  when  chemically  combined,  consti- 
tute nitric  acid.  Such  combination  is  produced  by  electricity.  "  It 
is  known,"  says  Boussingault,  "  that  so  often  as  a  succession  of 
electrical  sparks  passes  through  moist  air,  there  is  formation  and 
combination  of  nitric  acid  and  ammonia.  Now  nitrate  of  ammonia 
is  one  of  the  constant  ingredients  in  the  rain  of  thunder-storms." 
(p.  -494.)  "  The  currents  of  electricity  which  in  nature  traverse 
the  atmosphere  must  produce  the  same  effect  [of  forming  nitric 
acid],  and  the  passage  of  each  flash  of  lightning  through  the  air 
must  be  attended  by  the  formation  of  some  portion  of  this  acid." 
(Johnston,  p.  160.) 

-  Ammonia,  the  volatile  or  aeriform  alkali,  is  a  chemical  compound 
of  nitrogen  (azote),  one  of  the  two  elements  of  avmospheric  air, 
and  hydrogeu,  one  of  the  two  elements  of  water.  Uence,  of  am- 
monia, as  "of  nitric  acid,  there  are  in  the  ordinal y  mo^t  air  of  the 
atmosphere,  the  most  abundant  materials  for  both  these  compound 
products.  There  is  wanting  only  the  agency  for  their  formation, 
which  is  exercised  by  nature  only  (as  by  lightning),  and  that  spa- 
ringly, though  incessantly,  in  some  or  other  regions  of  the  tmo- 
pphere.     Both  ammonia  and  the  nitrates  (the  certain  and  :mmc- 


CALCAREOUS   COMPOSTS   ARE   NITRE-BEDS.  2G5 

diatc  products  of  nitric  acid  on  the  soil),  arc  well  known  to  be 
highly  fertilizing.  The  foregoing  passages  show  (besides  other 
known  sources)  that  the  air  supplies  both,  and  that  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  everywhere,  is  sure  to  be  more  or  less  supplied  from 
the  air,  with  ammonia  and  nitric  acid.  Nitrogen,  which  is  one 
of  the  two  constituent  parts  of  both  these  fertilizing  compounds,  i3 
also  the  richest  and  the  most  important  clement  (for  the  small  pro- 
portion required),  in  the  nutriment  of  plants,  and  the  most  power- 
ful promoter  of  their  luxuriance  and  perfection  of  growth.  It  may 
be  inferred,  that  it  is  by  furnishing  their  clement  nitrogen  to 
plants,  that  both  ammonia  and  the  nitrates  are  such  important  aids 
to  vegetable  growth,  and  to  the  fertility  of  soils.  Ammonia  is 
produced  and  evolved  in  large  quantity  by  the  putrefaction  of  all 
animal  substances.  Also,  "  during  the  decay  of  vegetable  sub- 
stances in  moist  air,  ammonia  is  formed  at  the  expense  of  the  hy- 
drogen of  the  water  and  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  air.  In  conse- 
quence of,  or  in  connexion  with,  such  decay,  nitric  acid  is  also 
largely  produced  in  nature." — (Johnston,  p.  161.) 

"  The  most  familiar,  as  well  as  the  most  instructive  examples  of 
this  formation  of  nitric  acid,  is  iu  the  artificial  nitre-beds  of  France 
and  the  north  of  Europe.  These  are  formed  of  earth  [calcareous 
in  part],  stable  manure,  or  other  animal  and  vegetable  matters,  the 
mixture  laid  in  ridges,  occasionally  watered  with  liquid  manure, 
and  turned  over,  to  expose  fresh  portions  to  the  air.  After  a  time, 
perhaps  once  a  year,  the  whole  is  washed,  when  the  water  which 
comes  off  is  found  to  contain  a  variable  quantity  of  the  nitrates  of 
potash,  soda,  lime,  and  magnesia,  which  are  employed  for  the  manu- 
facture of  saltpetre.  In  these  nitre-beds,  it  has  been  observed  that 
the  production  of  nitric  acid  either  does  not  take  place  at  all,  or 
only  with  extreme  slowness,  unless  animal  and  vegetable  matter  be 
present  in  considerable  proportion.  And  yet  the  quantity  of  nitric 
acid  which  is  formed  is  much  greater  than  could  be  produced  by 
the  oxydation  of  the  whole  of  the  nitrogen  contained  in  the  organic 

matters  present  in  the  mixture It  appears,  therefore, 

that  organic  matters  are,  in  our  climate,  necessary  to  cause  the  for- 
mation of  nitric  acid  to  commence  ;  but  that  after  it  has  begun,  it 
will  proceed  in  the  same  heap  for  an  indefinite  period,  and  at  the 
expense  apparently  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  only. 

"  Compost  heaps  [of  manure,  formed  of  rich  soil,  animal  manure,  i 
and  lime  or  calcareous  earth]  are  in  general  only  artificial  nitre- 
beds,  often  unskilfully  prepared,  and  badly  managed,  producing, 
however,  a  certain  quantity  of  nitrates,  to  the  presence  of  which, 
their  effect  on  vegetation  may  not  unfrequently  be  ascribed.  .  .  . 
The  soils  in  the  plains  of  India,  and  in  other  similar  spots  in  the 
tropical  regions,  may  be  regarded  as  natural  nitrc-bctls,  in  which 
the  decav  of  organic  matter  being  vastly  more  rapid  than  in  our 
9*2 


2G6  LIME   IX   COMPOST   HEAPS. 

temperate  regions,  the  production  of  nitric  acid  is  rapid  in  propor- 
tion."— (Johnston,  p.  161.) 
/  Thus,  and  in  other  modes,  by  the  presence  and  agency  of  calca- 
reous earth,  it  may  be  supposed  that  nitrogen  (or  azote),  which  is 
the  essential  element  of  all  rich  putrescent  manures,  is  continually 
produced  from  the  atmosphere ;  and  that  the  results,  in  nitrates, 
are  given  to  growing  plants,  by  which  they  obtain  and  assimilate 
the  necessary  nitrogen,  which  could  not  be  otherwise  obtained,  ex- 
cept from  large  supplies  of  rich  animal  manures. 

If  these  views  are  sound,  they  lead  to  most  important  conse- 
quences, and  suggest  the  existence  of  before  unknown  enriching 
and  fructifying  agencies  of  lime,  continually  at  work,  in  drawing 
rich  manure  from  the  air,  and  giving  the  supplies  to  each  successive 
crop  of  growing  plants,  so  long  as  the  lime  and  organic  matter  re- 
main together  in  the  soil. 
,  These  views  also  serve  to  throw  much  light  on  some  opinions 
[  and  facts  in  reference  to  the  benefits  of  lime,  which  I  formerly 
brought  before  the  public,  because  of  their  interest,  but  of  which 
the  causes  were  then  left  in  all  their  obscurity.  One  class  of  facts 
were  presented  in  the  very  light  limings  of  La  Sarthe,  in  France, 
of  about  11  bushels  only  to  the  acre  (though  repeated  in  every 
round  of  four  crops),  and  showing  undoubted  good  effects.  This 
was  stated  in  Puvis'  "  Essay  on  Lime/'*  which  I  translated  and 
published  in  the  third  volume  of  the  "  Farmers'  Register."  The 
other  facts  referred  to,  doubtless  were  produced  by  that  publication. 
Mr.  Peter  Mellett,  of  Sumpter,  S.  C,  pursued  a  similar  course  of 
liming,  and  even  with  still  lighter  though  more  frequent  dressings, 
giving  but  2  A  bushels  to  the  acre,  annually,  and  yet  with  satisfac- 
tory results,  and  manifest  and  progressively  increasing  improve- 
ment of  both  land  and  crops."]"  The  process  in  both  cases  was  to 
form  compost  heaps  of  alternate  layers  of  earth,  putrescent  manures, 
and  lime  in  very  small  proportion.  In  both  cases,  the  evidences  of 
the  results  seemed  unquestionable.  Yet  to  me,  the  reported  effects 
then  seemed  to  exceed  the  operation  of  all  the  then  known  causes, 
in  enormous  disproportion.  But  the  difficulties  of  comprehension 
will  be  removed  by  explanations  suggested  by  the  passages  quoted 
above.  These  compost  heaps  were  in  fact  nitre-beds ;  and  the  lime 
acted  much  less  by  its  quantity,  and  directly,  as  manure,  than  by 
inducing  the  formation  of  nitrates,  and  thereby  furnishing  supplies 
of  nitrogen  to  the  crops.  Another  circumstance  strengthens  this 
conjecture.     Puvis  states  of  this  practice,  which  was  extensively 

*  "  Des  different  moj/ens  d'amender  le  sol,"  in  the  "Annates  <T  Agriculture 
Francaise,"  for  1835-6. 

f  These  facts  were  more  fully  stated  in  ray  "Report  of  the  Agricultural 
Survey  of  South  Carolina,"  made  in  18-13,  uudcr  the  order  and  appoint- 
ment of  the  government  of  that  .State. 


LIME   IN   COMPOST   IIEArS.  2G7 

in  use  in  Normandy,  that  the  longer  the  compost  heaps  were  hept 
before  being  carried  out  as  manure,  and  the  more  often  they  were 
cut  down,  the  parts  mixed,  and  again  heaped,  the  richer  and  more 
efficient  would  be  the  manure.  Now  this  seemed  scarcely  less 
strange  than  the  general  result.  For,  after  as  many  mixings  and 
turnings  of  the  mass  as  would  serve  for  thoroughly  separating  each 
ingredient,  and  mingling  the  whole  together,  with  enough  of  time 
for  the  combining  chemical  action  between  the  different  elements, 
there  appeared  no  reason  why  the  compound  mass  could  gain  more 
in  richness,  and  the  putrescent  parts  would  probably  lose,  by  con- 
tinued exposure  and  further  decomposition.  But  even  if  such 
were  the  case  as  to  the  original  materials  of  the  compost,  yet  doubt- 
less the  formation  of  nitrates  continued,  and  their  quantity  was  in- 
creased with  every  new  exposure  of  surface,  and  through  the  whole 
course  of  time. 

Under  these  impressions,  I  now  deem  much  more  valuable  and 
worthy  of  imitation  the  very  light  limings,  in  compost,  of  La 
Sarthc;  and  as  especially  suitable  when  a  farm  throughout  has 
once  been  well  calxed,  and  it  is  yet  too  soon  to  repeat  the  applica- 
tion in  any  considerable  quantity.  This  plan,  of  very  light  lim- 
ings, in  compost,  offers  ample  remuneration  for  using  lime  as  ma- 
nure in  localities  so  distant  from  the  source  of  supply,  that  the 
carriage  of  enough  for  ordinary  dressings  might  be  more  expensive 
than  profitable.* 

§  III.  Improving  the  health,  and  promoting  (lie  vigour  and  perfec- 
tion of  plants. 

The  beneficial  effects  of  calxing  are  not  to  be  measured  by  the 
mere  increase  of  the  bulk  or  quantity  of  products,  and  still  less  in 
comparison  with  crops  on  similar  land  not  yet  calxed,  in  seasons 
when  both  lands,  according  to  their  different  qualities,  yield  well. 
The  addition  of  calcareous  earth,  when  before  greatly  deficient,  serves 
to  so  improve  the  fitness  of  the  land  for  vegetable  production,  that 

*  It  may  be  of  use  to  some  readers,  who  have  no  access  to  either  of  the 
works  above  referred  to,  to  state  here  concisely  the  mode  of  making  this 
compost  in  Normandy,  and  also  in  Belgium,  as  reported  by  Puvis.  He 
says: — "There  is  first  made  a  bed  of  earth,  mould,  or  turf  [peat],  of  a 
foot  or  thereabout  in  thickness.  The  lumps  are  chopped  down,  and  then 
is  spread  over  a  layer  of  unslaked  lime,  of  a  hectolitre  [2-£  bushels]  for 
every  20  cubic«feet  of  earth.  Upon  this  lime  is  to  be  placed  another  layer 
of  earth  [of  like  kind],  equal  in  thickness  to  the  first,  then  a  second  layer 
of  lime ;  and  then  the  heap  is  finished  by  a  third  layer  of  earth."  As  soon 
as  the  lime  is  fully  slaked,  by  the  moisture  of  the  earth,  "the  heap  is  cut 
down,  and  well  mixed ;  and  this  operation  is  repeated  afterwards,  before 
\ising  the  manure,  which  is  postponed  as  long  as  possible,  because  the 
power  of  the  effect  on  the  soil  is  increased  with  the  age  of  the  compost, 
and  especially  if  it  has  been  made  with  earth  containing  much  vegetable 
mould  " 


\ 


268  LIME   CAUSING   HEALTHY   GROWTH. 

all  plants  grown  thereon  will  be  more  healthy,  more  ahle  to  resist 
all  causes  of  disease  and  disaster,  to  bear  up  unhurt  under  injuries 
of  season,  insects,  &c,  which  would  have  either  destroyed,  or 
greatly  injured  the  feebler  and  diseased  growth  of  a  soil  deficient 

f  in  lime.  Plants  thus  receive  that  endowment  which  in  regard  to 
auimals  is  called  a.  good  physical  constitution.  And  the  difference 
between  the  possession  of  this  good  constitution  and  the  want  of  it, 
whether  in  animals  or  plants,  in  most  times  for  comparison,  would 
be  as  the  difference  between  perfect  health  and  full  ability  on  the 
one  side,  and  of  disease  or  decay  on  the  other. 

In  this  aspect,  the  superiority  of  product  from  calxed  land,  how- 
ever great  it  may  be  over  the  uncalxed,  in  any  particular  season 
not  disastrous  to  the  growth  of  either,  is  of  less  account  and  value 
than  the  ability  of  the  former  to  maintain  good  products,  under 
circumstances  of  injury  which  would  greatly  reduce  the  production 
of  the  latter. 

In  addition  to  this  much  greater  certainty  of  calxed  land  pro- 
ducing crops  proportioned  to  its  fertility,  than  of  the  un-calxed,  in 
proportion  to  its  lesser  rate  there  is  the  further  advantage  that  the 
growth  of  the  former  is  in  comparison  more  perfect  and  more  valu- 
able than  would  be  indicated  by  mere  quantities.  The  grain  of 
wheat  is  heavier  to  the  measure,  has  a  thinner  skin,  and  yields 

'  more  flour,  on  calxed  soils,  or  those  naturally  calcareous  ;  "  while 
this  flour  is  said  also  to  be  richer  in  gluten,"  and  of  course  will 
make  more  and  better  bread. — (Johnston,  p.  391.)  These  benefits 
are  in  addition  to  the  greater  quantity  and  also  the  greater  cer- 
tainty of  production.  Though  the  millers  of  this  country  have 
been  slow  to  learn  these  truths,  still  they  are  beginning  to  know 
that  the  wheat  produced  on  calxed  lands  is  the  most  valuable. 
Johnston  says  that  liming  "  improves  the  quality  of  almost  every 
cultivated  crop." — "  All  fodder  [grass,  &c],  whether  natural  or 
artificial,  is  said  to  be  sounder  and  more  nourishing  when  grown 
upon  land  to  which  lime  has  been  abundantly  applied." — "  Pota- 
toes are  made  more  mealy  and  palatable,  especially  on  moist  lands 
needing  draining.  Turnips,  peas,  and  beans  are  also  improved  for 
food,  in  addition  to  the  increase  of  crops." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  USE  OF  CALCAREOUS  EARTH  RECOMMENDED  TO  PRESERVE 
PUTRESCENT  MANURES,  AND  TO  PROMOTE  CLEANLINESS  AND 
HEALTH. 

The  operation  of  calcareous  earth  in  enriching  barren  soils  has 
been,  in  a  former  part  of  this  essay,  ascribed  mainly  to  the  chemi- 
cal power  possessed  by  that  earth  of  combining  with  jmtrescent 
matters,  or  with  the  products  of  their  decomposition  ;  and  in  that 
manner  preserving  them  from  waste,  for  the  use  of  the  soil,  and 
for  the  food  of  growing  plants.  That  power  was  exemplified  by 
the  details  of  an  experiment  (page  95),  in  which  the  carcass  of  an 
animal  was  so  acted  on,  and  its  enriching  properties  secured.  That 
trial  of  the  putrefaction  of  animal  matter  in  contact  with  calcare- 
ous earth,  was  commenced  with  a  view  to  results  very  different 
from  those  which  were  obtained.  Darwin  says  that  nitrous  acid 
is  produced  in  the  process  of  fermentation,  and  he  supposes  the 
nitrate  of  lime  to  be  very  serviceable  to  vegetation.*  As  the 
nitrous  acid  is  a  gas,  it  must  pass  off  into  the  air,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  as  fast  as  it  is  formed,  and  be  entirely  lost.  But  as 
it  is  strongly  attracted  by  lime,  it  was  supposed  that  a  cover  of 
calcareous  earth  would  arrest  it,  and  form  a  new  combination, 
which,  if  not  precisely  nitrate  of  lime,  would  at  least  be  composed 
of  the  same  elements,  though  in  different  proportions.  To  ascertain 
whether  any  such  combination  had  taken  place,  when  the  manure 
was  used,  a  handful  of  the  marl  was  taken,  which  had  been  in  im- 
mediate contact  with  the  carcass,  and  thrown  into  a  glass  of  hot 
water.  After  remaining  half  an  hour,  the  fluid  was  poured  off, 
filtered,  and  evaporated,  and  left  a  considerable  proportion  of  a 
white  soluble  salt  (supposed  eight  or  ten  grains).  I  could  not 
ascertain  its  kind ;  but  it  was  not  deliquescent,  and  therefore 
could  not  have  been  the  nitrate  of  lime.  The  spot  on  which  the 
carcass  lay  was  so  strongly  impregnated  by  this  salt,  that  it  re- 
mained bare  of  vegetation  for  several  years,  and  until  the  field  was 
ploughed  for  cultivation. 

But  whatever  were  the  products  of  decomposition  saved  by  this 
experiment,  the  absence  of  all  offensive  effluvia  throughout  the 
process  sufficiently  proved  that  little  or  nothing  was  lost,  as  every 
atom  must  be,  when  flesh  putrefies  in  the  open  air ;  and  I  presume 
that  a  cover  of  equal  thickness  of  clay,  or  sand,  or  any  mixture 
of  both,  without  calcareous  earth,  would  have  had  very  little  effect 

*  Darwin's  Fhytoloina,  pp.  210  and  221.  Dublin  edition. 
23  *  (2G9) 


270  ANIMAL   MATTER   FIXED   BY   CALCAREOUS. 

in  arresting  and  retaining  the  aeriform  products  of  putrefaction. 
All  the  circumstances  of  this  experiment,  and  particularly  the 
good  effect  exhibited  by  the  manure  when  put  to  use,  proved  the 
propriety  of  extending  a  similar  practice.  In  the  neighbourhood 
of  towns,  or  wherever  else  the  carcasses  of  animals,  or  any  other 
animal  substances  subject  to  rapid  and  wasteful  putrefaction,  can 
be  obtained  in  great  quantity,  all  their  enriching  powers  might  be 
secured,  by  depositing  them  between  layers  of  marl,  or  calcareous 
earth  in  any  other  form.  It  is  said  that  on  the  borders  of  the 
Chowan,  herrings  are  often  used  as  manure,  when  purchasers  can- 
not take  off  the  quantities  supplied  by  the  seines.  A  herring  is 
buried  under  each  corn-hill,  and  fine  crops  are  thus  made  as  far  as 
this  singular  mode  of  manuring  is  extended.  But  whatever  benefits 
have  been  thus  derived,  the  sense  of  smelling,  as  well  as  the  known 
chemical  products  of  the  process  of  animal  putrefaction,  make  it 
certain  that  nine-tenths  of  all  this  rich  manure,  when  so  applied, 
must  be  wasted  in  the  air.  If  those  who  fortunately  possess  this 
supply  of  animal  manure  would  cause  the  fermentation  to  take 
place  and  be  completely  mixed  with  and  enclosed  by  marl,  in  pits 
of  suitable  size,  they  would  increase  prodigiously  both  the  amount 
and  permanency  of  their  acting  animal  manure,  besides  obtaining 
the  benefit  of  the  calcareous  earth  mixed  with  it.* 

But  without  regarding  such  uncommon  or  abundant  sources  for 
supplying  animal  matter,  every  farmer  may  considerably  increase 
his  stock  of  putrescent  manure  by  using  the  preservative  power  of 
marl ;  and  all  the  substances  that  might  be  so  saved  are  not  only 
now  lost  to  the  land,  but  serve  to  contaminate  the  air  while  putre- 
fying, and  perhaps  to  engender  disease.  The  last  consideration  is 
of  most  importance  to  towns,  though  worthy  of  attention  every- 
where. Whoever  will  make  the  trial  will  be  surprised  to  find  how 
much  putrescent  matter  may  be  collected  from  the  dwelling-house, 
kitchen,  and  laundry  of  a  family ;  and  which  if  accumulated 
(without  mixture  with  calcareous  earth),  would  soon  become  so 
offensive  as  to  show  the  necessity  of  putting  an  end  to  the  practice. 
Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  when  all  such  matters  are  scattered 
about  (as  is  usual  both  in  town  and  country),  over  an  extended 
surface,  the  same  putrefaction  must  ensue,  and  the  same  noxious 
effluvia  be  evolved,  though  not  enough  concentrated  to  be  very 
offensive,  or  even  always  perceptible.     The   same  amount  is  in- 

*  I  have  since  heard  that  this  mode  of  manuring,  but  -with  the  garbage 
of  the  herrings,  is  a  general  and  very  extensive  practice  on  the  borders  of 
Albemarle  Sound.  By  the  enormous  seines  there  used,  herrings  are  taken 
in  numbers  that  seem  scarcely  credible ;  and  all  the  fish  are  trimmed  and 
salted  at  the  fisheries.  This  great  and  regular  supply  of  garbage  used  as 
manure,  is  of  great  value,  even  with  all  the  usual  waste  in  the  air ;  but 
would  be  of  ten-fold  value  if  treated  as  recommended  above. 


FILTII   OP   TOWNS.  Z1L 

haled — but  in  a  very  diluted  state,  and  in  small  though  incessantly 
repeated  doses.  But  if  mild  calcareous  earth  in  any  form  (and 
fossil  shells  or  marl  present  much  the  cheapest)  is  used  to  cover 
and  mix  with  the  putrescent  matters  so  collected,  they  will  be  pre- 
vented from  discharging  offensive  effluvia,  and  preserved  to  enrich 
the  soil.  A  malignant  and  ever  acting  enemy  will  be  converted  to 
a  friend  and  benefactor. 

The  usual  dispersion  and  waste  of  such  putrescent  and  excre- 
mentitious  matters  about  a  farm-house,  though  a  considerable  loss 
to  agriculture,  may  take  place  without  being  very  offensive  to  the 
senses,  or  manifestly  injurious  to  health.  But  the  case  is  widely 
different  in  towns.  There,  unless  great  care  is  continually  used  to 
remove  or  destroy  filth  of  every  kind,  it  soon  becomes  offensive,  if 
not  pestilential.  During  the  summer  of  1832,  when  that  most 
horrible  scourge  of  the  human  race,  the  Asiatic  cholera,  was  deso- 
lating some  of  the  towns  of  the  United  States,  and  all  were  ex- 
pected to  be  visited  by  its  fatal  ravages,  great  and  unusual  exertions 
were  everywhere  used  to  remove  and  prevent  the  accumulation  of 
filth,  which,  if  allowed  to  remain,  it  was  supposed  would  invite  the 
approach,  and  aid  the  effects  of  the  pestilence.  The  efforts  made 
for  that  purpose  served  to  show  what  a  vast  amount  of  putrescent 
matter  existed  in  every  town,  and  which  was  so  rapidly  reproduced, 
that  its  complete  riddance  was  impossible.  Immense  quantities  of, 
the  richest  manures,  or  materials  for  them,  were  washed  away  into 
the  rivers — caustic  lime  was  used  to  destroy  them — and  the  chlo- 
ride of  lime  to  decompose  the  offensive  products  of  their  fermenta- 
tion, when  that  process  had  already  occurred.  All  this  amount  of 
labour  and  expense  was  directed  to  the  complete  destruction  of  what 
might  have  given  fertility  to  many  adjacent  fields — and  yet  served 
to  cleanse  the  towns  but  imperfectly,  and  for  a  very  short  time. 
Yet  the  object  in  view  might  have  been  better  attained  by  the  pre- 
vious adoption  of  the  proper  means  for  preserving  these  putrescent 
matters,  than  by  destroying  them.  These  means  would  be  to  mix 
or  cover  all  accumulations  of  such  matters  with  rich  marl  (which 
would  be  the  better  for  the  purpose  if  its  shells  were  in  small  par- 
ticles), and  in  such  quantity  as  the  effect  would  show  to  be  suffi- 
cient. But  much  the  greater  part  of  the  filth  of  a  town  is  not,  and 
cannot  be  accumulated ;  and  from  being  dispersed  is  the  most  diffi- 
cult to  remove,  and  is  probably  the  most  noxious  in  its  usual  course 
of  fermentation.  This  would  be  guarded  against  by  covering 
thickly  with  marl  the  floor  of  every  cellar  and  stable,  back-yard 
and  stable  lot.  Every  other  vacant  space  should  be  lightly  covered. 
The  same  course  pursued  on  the  gardens  and  other  cultivated 
grounds  would  be  sufficiently  compensated  by  their  increased  pro- 
ducts that  would  bo  obtained.  But  independent  of  that  considera- 
tion, the  manures  there  applied  would  be  prevented  from  escaping 


272  MARL   FOR   CLEANSING  TOWNS. 

into  the  air;  and  being  wholly  retained  by  the  soil,  much  smaller 
applications  would  serve.  The  level  streets  ought  also  to  be  sprin- 
kled with  marl,  and  as  often  as  circumstances  might  require.  The 
various  putrescent  matters  usually  left  in  the  streets  of  a  town 
alone  serve  to  make  the  dirt  scraped  from  them  a  valuable  manure; 
for  the  principal  part  of  the  bulk  of  street  dirt  is  composed  merely 
of  the  barren  clay  brought  in  upon  the  wheels  of  wagons  from  the 
country  roads.  Such  a  cover  of  calcareous  earth  would  be  the 
most  effectual  absorbent  and  preserver  of  putrescent  matter,  as  well 
as  the  cheapest  mode  of  keeping  a  town  always  clean.  There 
would  be  less  noxious  or  offensive  effluvia  than  is  generated  in 
spite  of  all  the  ordinary  means  of  prevention ;  and  by  scraping  up 
and  removing  the  marl  after  it  had  combined  with  and  secured 
enough  of  putrescent  matter,  a  compost  would  be  obtained  for  the 
use  of  the  surrounding  country,  so  rich  and  so  abundant,  that  its 
use  would  repay  a  large  part,  if  not  the  whole  of  the  expense 
incurred  in  its  production.  Probably  one  covering  of  marl  for 
each  year  would  serve  for  most  yards,  cellars,  &c. ;  but  if  re- 
quired oftener,  it  would  only  prove  the  necessity  for  the  opera- 
tion, and  show  the  greater  value  in  the  results.  The  compost  that 
might  be  obtained  from  spaces  equal  to  500  acres,  in  a  populous 
town,  would  durably  enrich  thrice  as  many  acres  of  the  adjacent 
country;  and  after  twenty  years  of  such  a  course,  the  surrounding 
farms  might  be  capable  of  returning  to  the  town  a  ten-fold  in- 
creased surplus  product.  After  the  qualities  and  value  of  the 
manure  so  formed  were  properly  appreciated,  it  would  be  used  for 
farms  that  would  be  out  of  the  reach  of  all  other  calcareous  manures. 
Carts  bringing  country  produce  to  market  might  with  profit  carry 
back  loads  of  this  compost  eight  or  ten  miles.  The  annual  supply 
that  the  country  might  be  furnished  with  would  produce  very  dif- 

(ferent  effects  from  the  putrescent  and  fleeting  manure  now  obtained 
from  the  town  stables.  Of  the  little  durable  benefit  heretofore 
derived  from  such  means,  the  appearance  of  the  country  offers 
sufficient  testimony.  At  three  miles  distance  from  some  of  tho 
principal  towns  in  Virginia,  more  than  half  the  cultivated  land  is 
too  poor  to  yield  any  farming  profit.  The  surplus  grain  sent  to 
market  is  very  inconsiderable — and  the  coarse  hay  from  the  wet 
natural  meadows  can  only  be  sold  to  tavern-keepers,  or  those  who 
feed  horses  belonging  to  other  persons — and  to  whom  that  hay  is 
the  most  desirable  that  is  least"' likely  to  be  eaten. 

But  even  if  the  waste  and  destruction  of  manure  in  towns  were 
counted  as  nothing,  and  the  preservation  of  health  by  keeping  the 
air  pure  were  the  only  object  sought,  still  calcareous  earth,  as  pre- 
sented by  rich  marl,  would  serve  the  purpose  far  better  than 
quick-lime.  It  is  true  that  the  latter  substance  acts  powerfully  in 
decomposing  putrescent  animal  matter,  and  destroys  its  texture 


INCONVENIENCES   OF   LIME.  273 

ami  qualities  so  completely,  that  the  operation  is  commonly  and 
expressively  called  "burning"  the  substances  acted  on.  But  to 
use  a  sufficient  quantity  of  quick-lime  to  meet  and  decompose  all 
putrescent  animal  matters  in  a  town  would  be  intolerably  expen- 
sive, and  still  more  objectionable  in  other  respects.  If  a  cover  of 
dry  quick-lime  in  powder  was  spread  over  all  the  surfaces  requiring 
it  for  this  purpose,  the  town  would  be  unfit  to  live  in;  and  the 
nuisance  would  be  scarcely  less,  when  rain  had  changed  the  suffo- 
cating dust  to  an  adhesive  mortar.  Woollen  clothing,  carpets,  and 
even  living  flesh,  would  be  continually  sustaining  injury  from  the 
contact.  No  such  objections  would  attend  the  use  of  mild  calca- 
reous earth;  and  this  could  be  obtained  probably  for  less  than  one- 
third  of  the  cost  of  quick-lime,  supposing  an  equal  quantity  of 
pure  calcareous  matter  to  be  obtained  in  each  case.  At  this  time 
the  richest  marl  on  James  river  may  be  obtained  at  merely  the  cost 
of  digging,  and  its  carriage  by  water,  which,  if  undertaken  on  a 
large  scale,  could  not  exceed,  and  probably  would  not  equal,  two 
cents  the  bushel.* 

The  putrescent  animal  matters  that  would  be  preserved  and  ren- 
dered innoxious  by  the  general  marling  of  the  site  of  a  town,  would 
be  mostly  such  are  so  dispersed  and  imperceptible  that  they  would 
otherwise  be  entirely  lost.  But  all  such  as  are  usually  saved  in 
part  would  be  doubled  in  quantity  and  value,  and  deprived  of  their 
offensive  and  noxious  qualities,  by  being  kept  mixed  with  calcareous 
earth.  The  importance  of  this  plan  being  adopted  with  the  pro- 
ducts of  privies,  &c,  is  still  greater  in  town  than  country.  The 
various  matters  so  collected  and  combined  should  never  be  applied 
to  the  soil  alone,  as  the  salt  derived  from  the  kitchen,  and  the  pot- 
ash and  soap  from  the  laundry,  might  be  injurious  in  so  concen- 
trated a  form.  When  the  pit  for  receiving  this  compound  is 
emptied,  the  contents  should  be  spread  over  other  and  weaker 
manure  before  being  applied  to  the  field. 

Towns  might  furnish  many  other  kinds  of  rich  manure,  which 
are  now  lost  entirely.  Some  of  these  particularly  require  the  aid 
of  calcareous  earth  to  be  secured  from  destruction  by  putrefaction, 
and  others,  though  not  putrescent,  are  equally  wasted.  The  blood 
of  slaughtered  animals,  and  the  waste  and  rejected  articles  of  wool, 
Lair,  feathers,  skin,  horn,  and  bones,  all  are  manures  of  great  rich- 
ness. We  not  only  give  the  flesh  of  dead  animals  to  infect  the 
air,  instead  of  using  it  to  fertilize  the  land,  but  their  bones,  which 
might  be  so  easily  saved,  arc  as  completely  thrown  away.  Bones 
are  composed  of  phosphate  of  lime  and  gelatinous  animal  matter, 

*  Such  -was  the  ense  in  1883  when  thia  part  was  first  published;  but 
now  a  half  cmt  the  bushel  is  the  usual  price  charged  for  the  best  marl,  aa 
it  lies  in  the  river  banks. 


274  CALX   BETTER   TITAN   Q!JICK-LIME. 

and,  when  crushed,  form  one  of  the  richest  and  most  convenient 
manures  in  the  -world.  They  are  shipped  in  quantities  from  the 
continent  of  Europe,  and  latterly  even  from  this  country,  to  be  sold 
for  manure  in  England.  T-he  fields  of  battle  have  been  gleaned, 
and  their  shallow  graves  emptied  for  this  purpose :  and  the  bones 
of  the  ten  thousand  British  heroes,  who  fell  on  the  field  of  Water- 
loo, are  now  performing  the  less  glorious,  but  more  useful  purpose 
of  producing,  as  manure,  bread  for  their  brothers  at  home. 

There  prevails  a  vulgar  but  useful  superstition,  that  there  is 
"bad  luck"  in  throwing  into  the  fire  anything,  however  small  may 
be  its  amount  or  value,  that  can  serve  for  the  food  of  any  living 
animal.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  same  belief  does  not  extend  to  every 
thing  that  as  manure  can  serve  to  feed  growing  plants — and  that 
even  the  parings  of  nails  and  clippings  of  beards  are  not  saved  (as 
in  China)  for  this  purpose.  However  small  each  particular  source 
might  be,  the  amount  of  all  the  manures  that  might  be  saved,  and 
which  are  now  wasted,  would  add  incalculably  to  the  usual  means 
for  fertilization.  Human  excrement,  which  is  scarcely  used  at  all 
in  this  country,  is  stated  to  be  even  richer  than  that  of  birds ;  and 
if  all  the  enriching  matters  were  preserved  that  are  derived  not 
only  from  the  food,  but  from  all  the  habits  of  man,  there  can  be  no 
question  but  that  a  town  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  from  those 
sources  alone,  might  enrich  more  land  than  can  be  done  from  as 
many  cattle. 

The  opinions  here  presented  are  principally  founded  on  the  the- 
ory of  the  operation  of  calcareous  manures,  as  maintained  in  the 
foregoing  part  of  this  Essay  (Chap.  VIII.),  but  they  are  also  sus- 
tained to  considerable  extent  by  facts  and  experience.  The  most 
undeniable  practical  proof  of  one  of  my  positions  is  the  power  of 
a  cover  of  marl  to  prevent  the  escape  of  all  offensive  effluvia  from 
the  most  putrescent  animal  matters.  Of  this  power  I  have  long 
made  use,  and  know  it  to  be  more  effectual  than  quick-lime,  even 
if  the  destructive  action  of  the  latter  were  not  objectionable. 
Quick-lime  forms  new  combinations  with  putrescent  substances, 
and,  in  thus  combining,  throws  off  effluvia,  which,  though  different 
from  the  products  of  putrescent  matter  alone,  are  still  disagreeable 
and  offensive.  Mild  lime  on  the  contrary  absorbs  and  preserves 
/  everything — or  at  least  prevents  the  escape  of  any  offensive  odour 
being  perceived.  Whether  putrescent  vegetable  matter  is  acted  on 
in  like  manner  by  calcareous  earth  cannot  be  as  well  tested  by  our 
senses,  and  therefore  the  proof  is  less  satisfactory.  But  if  it  i3 
true  that  calcareous  earth  acts  by  combining  putrescent  matters 
with  the  soil,  and  thus  preventing  their  loss  (as  I  have  endeavoured 
to  prove  in  Chapter  VIII.),  it  must  follow  that,  to  the  extent  of 
&uch  combination,  the  formation  and  escape  of  all  volatile  products 
of  putrefaction  will  also  be  prevented. 


EFFECTS    OF   CALXINCi   ON    HEALTH.  275 

But  it  will  be  considered  that  the  most  important  inquiry  remains 
to  be  answered,  to  wit :  Has  the  application  of  calcareous  manures 
been  found  in  practice  decidedly  beneficial  to  the  health  of  the 
residents  on  the  land  ?  I  answer,  that  long  experience,  and  the 
collection  and  comparison  of  numerous  facts  derived  from  various 
sources,  will  be  required  to  remove  all  doubts  from  this  question ; 
and  it  would  be  presumptuous  in  any  individual  to  offer  as  sufficient 
proof,  the  experience  of  only  ten  or  twelve  years  on  any  one  farm. 
But  while  admitting  the  insufficiency  of  such  testimony,  I  assert 
that,  so  far  [to  1833],  my  experience  decidedly  supports  my  posi- 
tion. My  principal  farm  [Coggins],  until  within  some  four  or  five 
years,  was  subject  in  a  remarkable  degree  to  the  common  mild 
autumnal  diseases  of  our  low  country.  Whether  it  is  owing  to 
marling,  or  other  unknown  causes,  these  bilious  diseases  have  since 
become  comparatively  very  rare.  Neither  does  my  opinion  in  this 
respect,  nor  the  facts  that  have  occurred  on  my  farm,  stand  alone. 
Many  other  persons  are  equally  convinced  of  this  change  on  other 
land  as  well  as  on  mine.  But  in  most  cases  where  I  have  made 
inquiries  as  to  such  results,  nothing  decisive  had  then  been  ob- 
served. The  hope  that  other  persons  may  be  induced  to  observe 
and  report  facts  bearing  on  this  important  point,  has  in  part  caused 
the  first  appearance  of  these  crude  and  perhaps  premature  views. 

Even  if  my  opinions  and  reasonings  should  appear  sound,  I  am 
aware  that  the  practical  application  is  not  to  be  looked  for  soon; 
and  that  the  scheme  of  using  marl  in  towns  is  more  likely  to  be 
met  by  ridicule,  than  to  receive  a  serious  and  attentive  examina- 
tion. Notwithstanding  this  anticipation,  and  however  hopeless  of 
making  converts,  either  of  individuals  or  of  corporate  bodies,  I  will 
offer  a  few  concluding  remai-ks  on  the  most  obvious  objections  to, 
and  benefits  of  the  plan.  The  objections  will  all  be  resolved  into 
one — namely,  the  expense  to  be  encountered.  The  expense  certainly 
would  be  considerable ;  but  it  would  be  amply  compensated  by  the 
gains  and  benefits.  In  the  first  place,  the  general  use  of  marl  as 
proposed,  for  towns,  would  serve  to  insure  cleanliness,  and  purity 
of  the  air,  more  than  all  the  labours  of  their  boards  of  health  and 
their  scavengers,  even  when  acting  under  the  dread  of  approaching 
pestilence.  Secondly,  the  putrescent  manures  produced  in  towns, 
by  being  merely  preserved  from  waste,  would  be  increased  ten-fold 
in  quantity  and  value.  Thirdly,  all  existing  nuisances  and  abomi- 
nations of  filth  would  be  at  an  end ;  and  the  beautiful  city  of 
Richmond  (for  example)  would  not  give  offence  to  our  nostrils, 
almost  as  often  as  it  offers  gratification  to  our  eyes.  Lastly,  the 
marl  (or  mild  lime),  after  being  used  until  saturated  with  putres- 
cent matter,  would  retain  all  its  first  value  as  calcareous  earth, 
and  be  well  worth  purchasing  and  removing  to  the  adjacent  farms, 
independent  of  the  enriching  manure  with  which   it  would   be* 


276  /       EFFECTS   OF   CALXING    ON    HEALTH. 


loaded.  If  these  advantages  can  indeed  be  obtained,  they  would 
be  cheaply  bought  at  any  price  necessary  to  be  encountered  for  the 
purpose. 

The  foregoing  part  of  this  chapter  was  first  published  in  the 
Farmers'  Register  (for  July,  1833),  as  supplementary  to  the  pre- 
vious edition  of  this  Essay.  That  publication  drew  some  attention 
from  others  to  the  subject,  and  served  to  elicit  many  important 
facts,  of  which  I  had  been  before  altogether  ignorant,  in  support 
of  the  operation  of  calcareous  earth  in  arresting  the  effects  of 
malaria,  and  the  usual  autumnal  diseases  of  the  Southern  States  and 
other  similar  regions.  These  facts,  together  with  the  result  of  my 
own  personal  experience,  extended  through  two  more  autumns  (or 
sickly  seasons,  as  commonly  called  here  and  farther  south),  since 
the  first  publication  of  these  views,  will  now  be  submitted.  Most 
of  the  facts  derived  from  other  persons  relate  to  one  region,  the 
"rotten  lime-stone  lands"  of  southern  Alabama;  but  that  region  is 
extensive,  is  of  remarkable  and  well  known  character  and  pecu- 
liarities, and  the  evidence  comes  from  various  sources,  and  is  full, 
and  consistent  in  purport.  The  facts  will  be  here  presented  in  an 
abridged  form.  The  several  more  full  communications,  from  which 
they  are  drawn,  may  be  referred  to  in  the  Farmers'  Register,  vol. 
I.,  pp.  152,  214,  and  277. 

The  first  fact  brought  out  was  that,  in  the  town  of  Mobile,  near 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  streets  actually  had  been  paved  or  covered 
with  shells — thus  presenting  precisely  such  a  case  as  I  recom- 
mended, though  not  with  any  view  to  promoting  cleanliness  or 
health.  The  shells  had  been  used  merely  as  a  substitute  for  stones, 
which  could  not  be  so  cheaply  obtained.  Nor  had  the  greatly  im- 
proved healthiness  of  Mobile,  since  the  streets  were  so  covered 
(of  which  there  is  the  most  ample  and  undoubted  testimony),  been 
attributed  to  that  cause,  until  the  publication  of  the  foregoing 
opinions  served  to  connect  them  as  cause  and  effect.  This  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  by  those  who  will  admit  the  theory  of  -the 
action  of  calcareous  earth ;  and  the  remarkable  change  from  un- 
healthiness  in  Mobile,  to  comparative  healthiness,  is  a  very  strong 
exemplification  of  the  truth  of  the  theory.  But  it  is  not  strange, 
when  so  many  other  causes  might  (and  probably  did)  operate  to 
arrest  disease,  that  none  should  have  considered  the  chemical 
operation  of  the  shelly  pavement  as  one  of  them,  and  still  less  as 
the  one  by  far  the  most  important.  The  paving  of  streets  (with 
any  material),  draining  and  filling  up  wet  places,  substituting  for 
rotting  wooden  buildings  new  ones  of  brick  and  stone — and  espe- 
cially the  operation  of  destructive  and  extensive  fires — all,  we 
knew,  operate  (and  particularly  the  last)  to  improve  the  healthi- 
ness of  towns ;  and  all  these  operated  at  Mobile,  as  well  as  shell- 
ing the  streets.     Neither  was  the  shelling  so  ordered  as  to  produce 


EFFECTS   OF  BURNINGS   IN   JXHWS8.  277 

its  best  effect  for  health.  The  streets,  alleys,  and  many  yards  and 
small  vacant  lots  were  covered,  and  so  far  the  formation  and  evolv- 
ing of  pestilential  effluvia  were  lessened.  But  as  this  was  not  the 
object  in  view,  and  indeed  the  chemical  action  of  shells  was  not 
thought  of,  the  process  was  incomplete,  and  must  necessarily  have 
been  less  effectual  than  it  might  have  been  made.  The  shelling 
ought  to  have  been  extended  to  every  open  spot  where  filth  could 
accumulate — to  every  back-yard,  in  every  cellar,  and  made  the 
material  of  the  floor  of  every  stable,  and  every  other  building  of 
which  the  floor  would  otherwise  be  of  common  earth.  In  addition, 
after  a  sufficient  lapse  of  time  to  saturate  with  putrescent  matters 
the  upper  part  of  the  calcareous  layer,  and  thus  to  make  it  a  very 
rich  compound,  there  should  have  been  a  partial  or  total  removal 
of  the  mass,  and  a  new  coating  of  shells  laid  down.  The  value  of 
the  old  material,  as  manure,  would  probably  go  far  towards  paying 
for  this  renewal.  If  it  is  not  so  renewed,  the  calcareous  matter 
cannot  combine  with  more  than  a  certain  amount  of  putrescent 
matters;  and,  after  being  so  saturated,  can  have  no  further  effect 
in  saving  such  matters  for  use,  or  preventing  them  from  having 
their  usual  evil  course. 

The  burning  of  towns  is  well  known  to  be  a  cause  of  the  healthi- 
ness of  the  places  being  greatly  improved,  and  that  such  effect 
continues  after  as  many  buildings,  or  more,  have  replaced  those 
destroyed  by  fire.  Indeed  this  improvement  is  considered  so  per- 
manent, as  well  as  considerable,  that  the  most  sweeping  and  de- 
structive conflagrations  of  some  of  our  southern  towns  have  been 
afterwards  acknowledged  to  have  proved  a  gain  and  a  blessing. 
The  principal  and  immediate  mode  of  operation  of  this  universally 
acknowledged  cause  is  usually  supposed  to  be  the  total  destruction, 
by  the  fire,  of  all  filth  and  putrescent  matters ;  and  in  a  less  de- 
gree, and  more  gradually,  by  afterwards  substituting  brick  and 
stone  for  wooden  buildings,  which  are  always  in  a  more  or  less  de- 
cayed state.  But  though  these  reasons  have  served  heretofore  to 
satisfy  all,  as  to  the  beneficial  consequences  of  fires,  surely  they 
are  altogether  inadequate  as  causes  for  such  great  and  durable 
effects.  The  mere  destruction  of  all  putrescent  matters  in  a  town, 
at  any  one  time,  would  certainly  leave  a  clear  atmosphere,  and  give 
strong  assurance  of  health  being  improved  for  a  short  time  after- 
wards. But  these  matters  would  be  replaced  probably  in  the  course 
of  a  few  months,  by  the  residence  of  as  many  inhabitants,  and  tho 
continuance  of  the  same  general  habits ;  and  most  certainly  this 
cause  would  lose  all  its  operation  by  the  time  the  town  was  rebuilt. 
But  there  is  one  operation  produced  by  the  burning  of  a  town, 
which  is  far  more  powerful — which  in  fact  is  indirectly  the  very 
practice  which  has  been  advocated — and  the  effect  of  which,  if 
given  its  due  weight,  furnishes  proof  of  the  theory  set  forth,  by 
24 


278  HEALTH   OX    TUE   CALCAREOUS   PRAIRIES. 

the  experience  of  every  unhealthy  town  which  ha?  suffered  much 
from  fire.  If  a  fair  estimate  is  made  of  the  immense  quantity  of 
mild  calcareous  earth  which  is  contained  in  the  plastering  and 
brick-work  of  even  the  wooden  dwelling-houses  of  a  town,  and  still 
more  of  those  built  of  masonry,  it  must  be  admitted  that  all  that 
material  being  separated,  broken  down  (soon  or  late),  and  spread,  by 
the  burning  of  the  houses  and  pulling  down  their  ruin.-;,  is  enough 
to  give  a  very  heavy  cover  of  calcareous  earth  to  the  whole  space 
of  land  burnt  over.  It  is  to  this  operation,  in  a  far  greater  degree 
than  to  all  others,  that  I  attribute  the  beneficial  effects  to  health 
of  the  burning  of  towns. 

I  proceed  to  the  facts  derived  from  the  extensive  body  of  prairie 
lands  in  Alabama  which  rest  on  a  substratum  of  soft  lime-stone,  or 
rich  indurated  clay  marl.  It  was  from  these  remarkable  soils  that 
the  specimens  were  obtained  which  were  described  at  pp.  66,  07. 
Some  of  these,  indeed  all  that  have  been  examined  by  chemical 
tests,  of  the  high  and  dry  prairie  lands,  contain  calcareous  earth 
in  larger  proportions  than  any  soils  of  considerable  extent  in  the 
United  States  that  I  have  seen  or  tested.  The  specimens  not  con- 
taining free  calcareous  earth  are  of  the  class  of  neutral  soils ;  and 
the  calcareous  earth,  which  doubtless  they  formerly  contained,  and 
from  which  they  derived  their  peculiar  and  valuable  qualities,  may 
be  supposed  only  to  be  concealed  by  the  accumulation  of  vegetable 
matter,  according  to  the  general  views  submitted  in  Chapter  VII. 

The  more  full  descriptions  of  the  soils  of  this  remarkable  and 
extensive  region  before  referred  to  render  it  unnecessary  to  enlarge 
much  here.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  sum  up  concisely  the  facts  there 
exhibited,  and  which  agree  with  various  other  private  accounts 
which  have  been  received  from  undoubted  sources  of  information. 
The  deductions  from  these  facts,  and  their  accordance  with  the 
theory  of  the  operation  of  calcareous  matter,  are  matters  of  rea- 
soning, and,  as  such,  are  submitted  to  the  consideration  and  judg- 
ment of  readers. 

The  soil  of  these  prairie  lands  is  very  rich,  except  the  spots 
where  the  soft  lime-stone  rises  to  the  surface,  and  makes  the  calca- 
reous ingredient  excessive.  In  the  specimen  formerly  mentioned, 
the  pure  calcareous  matter  formed  59  parts  in  the  100  of  this 
"  bald  prairie"  land.  The  soil  generally  has  so  little  of  sand,  that 
nothing  but  the  calcareous  matter  which  enters  so  largely  into  its 
composition  prevents  it  being  so  stiff  and  intractable,  that  its  tillage 
would  be  almost  impracticable.  Yet  it  is  friable  and  light  when  dry, 
and  easy  to  till.  But  the  superfluous  rain-water  cannot  sink  and 
pass  off,  as  in  sandy  or  other  pervious  lands,  but  is  held  in  this 
close  and  highly  absorbent  soil,  which  throughout  winter  is  thereby 
made  a  deep  mire,  unfit  to  prepare  for  tillage,  and  scarcely  practi- 
cable to  travel  over,    This  water-holding  quality  of  the  soil,  and 


EFFECTS   OF  CALXIXQ   ON   HEALTH.  279 

tlic  nearness  to  the  surface  of  the  bard  and  impervious  marly  sub- 
stratum, deprive  tbe  country  of  natural  springs  and  running 
streams ;  and  before  the  important  discovery  was  made  that  pure 
water  might  be  obtained  by  boring  from  300  to  700  feet  through 
the  solid  calcareous  rock,  the  inhabitants  used  the  stagnant  rain- 
water collected  in  pits,  which  was  very  far  from  being  either  pure 
or  palatable.  Under  all  these  circumstances,  added  to  the  rank 
herbage  of  millions  oi  acres  annually  dying  and  decomposing  un- 
der a  southern  sun,  it  might  have  been  counted  on,  as  almost  cer- 
tain, that  such  a  country  would  have  proved  very  unhealthy.  Yet 
the  reverse  is  the  fact,  and  in  a  remarkable  degree.  The  healthi- 
ness of  this  region  is  so  connected  with  and  limited  by  the  calca- 
reous substratum  and  soil,  that  it  could  not  escape  observation  ; 
and  they  have  been  considered  as  cause  and  effect  by  those  who 
had  no  theory  to  support,  and  who  did  not  spend  a  thought  upon 
the  mode  in  which  was  produced  the  important  result  they  so 
readily  admitted.  Their  testimony  therefore  is  in  this  respect  the 
more  valuable,  because  it  cannot  be  suspected  of  having  any  such 
bias.  *  \ 

To  the  time  when  this  last  publication  is  made  (1842)  there  has 
been  no  reason  to  doubt  the  actual  facts  of  autumnal  diseases  (the 
effects  of  malaria)  being  greatly  lessened  by  even  the  partial  use 
of  marling;  nor  the  inference  that  they  would  almost  cease  to 
occur  (if  no  mill-ponds  and  undrained  lands  remained),  if  all  the 
3urface  of  a  considerable  extent  of  country  were  made  calcareous, 
and  all  rapidly  putrescent  and  otherwise  offensive  matter  were  pre- 
served and  kept  harmless  by  being  combined  with  marl,  applied 
from  time  to  time  as  recpiired.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that, 
as  yet,  rapid  and  extensive  as  has  been  the  progress  of  marling  in 
Virginia,  there  has  been  no  instance  of  the  greater  part  of  any 
whole  neighbourhood  of  so  much  as  a  few  miles  in  extent  being 
marled;  nor  even  of  all  the  surface  of  any  one  farm;  and  that, 
therefore,  we  have  no  means  of  judging  by  experience  of  the  full 
measure  of  benefit  to  be  derived  from  such  a  general  charige  of  the 
character  of  the  soil.  The  most  that  has  yet  been  done  anywhere  is 
the  marling  of  all  the  cultivated  and  arable  land  ;  leaving  unmarled, 
and  as  much  as  ever  the  abundant  sources  of  vegetable  decompo- 
sition and  of  disease,  all  the  wood-land,  steep  hill-sides,  and  the  wet 
bottoms.  Now,  as  the  remaining  wood-lands  are  generally  among 
the  poorest  of  our  soils,  that  is,  (according  to  the  theory  maintain- 
ed), soils  incapable  of  combining  with  and  retaining  the  products 
of  decomposition — and  as  they  are  covered  annually  with  leaves, 
which  in  time  all  rot  and  their  gaseous  products  finally  pass  off  into 
the  air — it  fullov/s,  that  the  lands  so  left  must  be  among  the  most 
fruitful  of  malaria.  It  is  obvious  that  the  remedy  is  but  partially 
and  inefficiently  in  operation,  so  long  as  from  one-third  to  one-half 


280  EFFECTS   OF   CALX1XG    01   HEALTH. 

of  every  farm  is  left  unmarlcd,  and  as  free  as  ever  to  evolve  the 
agent  of  disease.  So  sure  does  this  opinion  secin  to  me,  that  I 
have  commenced  acting  on  it,  by  marling  the  -wood-land  that  is  not 
designed  to  he  cleared  for  cultivation — and  shall  continue,  as  more 
necessary  labours  permit,  to  do  so,  until  not  an  acre  of  the  farm 
is  left  without  being  changed  in  character  by  calcareous  earth. 

It  is  proper  to  add,  as  an  opinion  founded  on  but  limited  expe- 
rience as  yet,  that  though  the  cases  of  sickness  on  Coggins  Point 
farm  have  certainly  diminished  very  greatly — there  not  being  one 
case  of  late  years  of  bilious  disease,  where  there  were  twenty 
formerly — still  that  the  diseases  seem  to  have  changed  in  kind, 
and  to  have  increased  in  severity  and  danger.  Formerly,  there 
•was  almost  no  sickness  except  from  ague  and  fever  (or,  very  rarely, 
a  case  of  mild  bilious  fever),  from  ■which,  though  few  persons 
escaped  through  the  autumn,  and  some  suffered  several  relapses, 
the  attacks  were  rarely  dangerous,  and  required  little  skill,  and 
but  a  few  days  to  cure,  for  that  time.  Bad  as  was  this  state  of 
things,  it  seemed  that  the  ague  and  fever  acted  as  a  safety-valve 
to  the  system,  and  while  it  seldom  permitted  the  enjoyment  of  long-_ 
continued  robust  health,  it  prevented  the  occurrence  of  more 
dangerous  or  fatal  diseases,  such  as  are  the  most  common  among 
the  fewer  diseases  of  what  are  deemed  healthy  regions.  The  fewer 
diseases  of  my  adult  negroes  for  the  last  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
have  been  of  a  more  inflammatory  kind,  and  are  not  confined  to 
autumn ;  and  there  have  been  certainly  more  severe  and  fatal  dis- 
eases, and  more  that  required  medical  aid,  than  formerly,  when 
there  was  so  much  more  of  sickness  of  one  kind,  and  confined  to 
one  season.  In  short,  it  seems  that  the  diseases  are  no  longer  (or 
but  in  few  cases)  those  of  the  low  country  and  of  a  bilious  climate, 
but  are  more  like  those  of  the  upper  country,  which,  though 
occurring  but  rarely,  are  generally  of  a  more  serious  nature.  The 
facts  on  which  this  particular  opinion  has  been  formed,  are  still  too 
few,  and  of  too  short  continuance,  to  attach  to  them  much  import- 
ance ;  and  even  if  they  were  less  doubtful,  I  have  not  the  medical 
knowledge  to  trace  these  new  effects  back  to  their  causes.  Still,  it- 
is  deemed  due  to  candour,  and  to  the  desire  for  a  fair  and  full  in- 
vestigation of  the  subject,  even  if  making  against  my  own  views, 
that  these  opinions  should  be  stated.  There  is  no  other  subject, 
than  this,  taken  in  general,  which  more  deserves  and  requires  in- 
vestigation; and  in  the  present  inchoate  state  of  the  discussion, 
the  expression  of  even  erroneous  opinions  will  not  be  useless,  if  it 
should  serve  to  elicit  more  full  or  correct  ones  from  other  sources. 

Nothing  better  than  this  one  subject  deserves  investigation  by 
medical  men,  acting  under  the  direction  of  government.  The  ma- 
terials for  information  are  now  abundant,  in  the  experience  and 
observation  of  the  numerous  farmers  who  have  marled  or  limed 


EFFECTS   OF   CALXING   ON   HEALTH.  281 

their  lands  long  enough  to  judge  of  the  effects  on  health  ;  and 
"whether  upon  true  or  false  grounds,  the  opinion  among  such  per- 
sons seems  now  (1842)  almost  universal  (so  far  as  I  have  heard 
opinions  expressed),  that  the  prevalence  of  autumnal  diseases,  the 
product  of  malaria,  has  been  invariably  and  manifestly  lessened 
since  the  lands  were  in  part  marled  or  limed.  My  individual  ex- 
perience and  observations  on  this  point,  now  of  nine  years'  more 
extent  than  when  the  first  fruits  thereof  were  stated  in  a  foregoing 
part  of  this  chapter,  concur  with  the  more  general  and  loose 
information  derived  from  others,  in  confirming  my  position.  It 
sometimes  happens  that  the  very  fact  of  an  opinion  being  univer- 
sally admitted  prevents  the  obtaining  such  proofs  of  its  truth  as 
would  certainly  have  been  ready,  if  the  opinion  had  been  questioned 
and  denied  by  many  sceptics.  And  such  is  the  state  of  the  pro- 
position now  under  consideration.  Even  in  the  few  years  which 
have  passed  since  I  first  advanced  the  opinion  that  the  use  of  cal- 
careous manures  served  to  improve  health,  that  opinion  has  become 
so  general,  and  is  deemed  so  certain  and  unquestionable,  by  those 
persons  who  have  used  those  manures,  that  but  few  facts  can  be 
learned  of  them  sufficiently  exact  to  serve  as  proofs — because  no 
person  has  deemed  it  necessary  to  collect  and  preserve  proofs  of 
what  none  doubted.  When  asking  for  such  proofs,  as  I  have  often 
done,  of  cultivators  and  residents  in  various  parts  of  the  marl 
region,  I  have  rarely  obtained  any,  except  new  declarations,  from 
every  person  interrogated,  of  concurrence  and  entire  faith  in  the 
general  opinion  that  marling  or  liming  had  served  greatly  to  abate 
the  prevalence  of  autumnal  diseases.  Such  general  belief  and  con- 
fidence in  an  opinion  so  recently  promulgated;  cannot  be  altogether 
founded  on  error.  (1842.) 

AVhen  my  opinions  of  the  beneficial  operation  of  calcareous  earth 
in  soil,  or  mixed  with  puti-escent  matter,  in  destroying  or  disarming 
the  sources  of  disease,  were  first  published,  and  until  after  the 
second  publication  of  the  same  in  1835,  I  had  no  knowledge  that 
similar  grounds  had  been  taken  by  any  other  person.  But  since, 
in  the  recent  publications  of  a  French  writer,  M.  Puvis,  I  have 
found  the  same  general  opinion  expressed,  and  many  important 
facts  given  in  confirmation.  However,  while  I  gladly  accept  the 
important  aid  of  M.  Puvis's  facts,  as  proof,  I  do  not  admit  the  cor- 
rectness of  his  reasoning  thereupon.  Some  of  the  former  will  be 
quoted  in  the  following  passages.  For  his  full  views,  see  the 
translations  of  his  essays  "  On  Lime  as  Manure/'  and  "  On  Marl," 
both  contained  in  vol.  iii.  of  the  Farmers'  Register. 

"  The  results  of  marling  may  be  considered  in  a  point  of  view 

more  elevated,  and  still  more  important  than  that  of  the  fertility 

which  it  gives  to  the  soil;   they  may  perhaps  have  much  influence 

on  the  healthiness  of  a  country  where  it  becomes  a  general  practice. 

24* 


282  EFFECTS   OF  CALX   ON   HEALTH   IN   FRANCE. 

"Although  it  may  not  have  heen  yet  uttered  by  others,  this 
opinion  appears  founded  on  strong  probabilities,  on  strong  analogies 
and  precise  facts,  all  of  which  appear  to  give  it  a  sufficient  cer- 
tainty. 

"  It  is  known  that  the  calcareous  principle  is  one  of  the  most 
powerful  agents  to  resist  putrefaction.  It  is  employed  to  make 
healthy  places  inhabited  by  men  and  animals,  in  which  sickness  or 
contagion  is  feared ;  it  serves  to  neutralize  the  emanations  of  dead 
bodies  undergoing  putrefaction ;  it  destroys  the  deleterious  exhala- 
tions which  escape  from  privies,  and  which  sometimes  cause  the 
death  of  those  who  are  employed  to  cleanse  them. 

"  It  even  seems  that  calcareous  countries  are  unhealthy  only 
when  they  are  interspersed  with  marshes,  or  when  some  causes, 
foreign  to  the  soil  and  climate,  determine  the  unhealthiuess,  as  in 
countries  on  the  borders  of  the  sea,  where  the  flowing  of  the  tide 
and  the  mingling  of  salt  and  fresh  waters  infect  the  air,  by  the  dcle- 

Cterious  emanations  of  their  combination.  This  cause  of  unhealthi- 
ness  is  regarded  as  a  certain  fact ;  for  salubrity  is  generally  seen  to 
appear  whenever  this  mixture  of  waters  is  prevented. 

"  In  the  valleys  of  rivers  bordered  by  calcareous  mountains, 
which  enclose  unhealthy  countries  in  their  interior,  insalubrity 
commences  there  only  as  the  calcareous  soil,  which  is  attached  to 
the  mountain,  gives  place  to  silicious  soil.  In  the  same  plain, 
and  far  from  a  mountain,  salubrity  is  seen  to  diminish  in  the  same 
proportion  that  the  calcareous  soil  of  the  surface  does ;  and  the 
communes  of  Bresse,  which  have  an  abundance  of  marly  or  calca- 
reous soils,  are  much  more  remarkable  for  their  salubrity  than  those 
on  the  white  lands  (terrain  bhinc*).  "While  the  ponds  of  Dombe, 
which  are  on  the  silicious  soil,  appear  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
causes  of  unhealthiness,  those  of  Bresse,  which  are  on  calcareous 
lands,  do  not  show  such  effects  in  the  country  where  they  are  found; 
so,  likewise,  the  ponds  of  the  country  situated  between  the  Veyle 
and  the  Reyssouze,  to  the  north-west  of  Bourg,  which  are  generally 
on  calcareous  soil,  do  not  appear  to  injure  the  healthiness  of  the 
country  in  any  manner. 

"  For  the  support  of  this  system,  we  will  also  cite  the  ponds  of 
Berri  on  calcareous  soil,  whose  emanations  have  nothing  unhealthy; 
the  laying  dry  of  the  ponds  of  Parracay,  in  the  canton  of  Lignieres, 
has  added  nothing  to  the  healthiness  of  a  calcareous  country  na- 

*  The  reader  of  M.  Puvis's  essays  on  lime  and  marl,  which  -were  inserted 
in  toI.  iii.  of  Farmers'  Register,  may  remember  that  this  provincial  term 
and  others  {plateaux  argillo-siheieux,  &c.)  were  there  used  to  designate  a 
peculiar  kind  of  soil,  destitute  of  calcareous  matter,  stiff,  intractable,  and 
poor — and  which  seems  precisely  of  the  character  of  the  poor  ridge  lands 
of  lower  Virginia,  to  which,  calcareous  manures  are  so  peculiarly  adapted. 
— Translator. 


EFFECTS   ON   HEALTH   IN   FRANCE  AND   ENGLAND.         283 

turally  healthy.  And  in  the  same  canton,  the  pond  of  Villiers, 
which  is  said  to  be  seven  leagues  in  circumference,  docs  not  cause 
diseases  on  its  borders.  Besides,  during  the  month  of  August,  the 
•water  of  the  ponds  on  calcareous  soil  does  not  become  blackish, 
as  often  happens  in  silicious  ponds.  The  water  would  then  be 
made  wholesome  by  the  calcareous  principle,  in  the  same  way  as 
their  emanations. 

"  In  fine,  Dombe  and  Sologne,  and  a  number  of  other  countries, 
are  unhealthy,  and  subject  to  intermittent  fevers,  without  being 
marshy ;  but  their  soil  is  likewise  silicious,  and  the  land  moist. 
Puisaye,  and  a  part  of  Bresse,  in  similar  laud,  which  contain  little 
or  no  calcareous  soil,  have  also  many  autumnal  fevers. " — Transla- 
tion from  "  Essai  sur  la  Marne."*  \ 

In  addition  to  these  opinions  of  Puvis,  and  his  facts  in  regard  to 
France,  I  may  add  the  later  testimony  of  two  other  eminent  agri- 
cultural writers,  whose  information  may  be  inferred  to  have  been 
derived  from  the  experience  of  England  and  Scotland.  In  a  small 
pamphlet  written  by  Sir  John  Sinclair,  and  dated  1833,  on  the 
means  for  preventing  the  ill  effects  of  malaria  ft  he  names  as 
among  the  most  important  the  use  of  calcareous  manures.  "  The 
effect  of  burnt  limestone,"  he  adds,  "in  improving  the  quality  of 
the  soil  is  hardly  to  be  credited.  It  either  absorbs  any  noxious 
matter,  or  annihilates  any  deleterious  properties  it  possessor ;  and 
it  may  be  relied  upon  as  an  established  fact  <  that  a  soil  fall  of 
calcareous  matter  never  j^'ochiccs  an  unwholesome  atmosphere."' 
And  again  :  "  The  introduction  of  immense  quantities  of  calcareous 
matter  into  the  soil  not  only  contributes  to  its  improvement,  but 
is  the  best  means  of  preventing  malaria." 

Professor  Johnston,  still  more  recently,  speaks  as  follows  :  "  The 
liming  of  the  land  is  the  harbinger  of  health  as  well  as  of  abun- 
dance. It  salubrities  no  less  than  it  enriches.  .  .  .  The  lime 
arrests  the  noxious  effluvia  which  tend  to  rise  more  or  less  from 
every  soil  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  decomposes  them,  or  causes 
their  elements  to  assume  new  forms  of  chemical  combination,  in 
which  they  no  longer  exert  the  same  injurious  influence  on  animal 
life." — Lectures,  &c,  pp.  392-3. 

Thus  there  is  now  good  evidence  and  high  authority  for  this 
opinion,  which  I  at  first  advanced  with  much  hesitation  and  fear  ; 
and  which  then  met  with  distrust  or  incredulity  with  almost  all 

*  This  work  was  published  in  Paris  in  182G.  The  first  known  (and  pro- 
bably still  the  only)  copy  brought  to  America,  was  in  1835,  by  my  order, 
made  soon  after  seeing  M.  Puvis's  essays  on  lime  and  marl  in  the  "Annates 
d' Agriculture  Fra?icaise,"  both  of  which  I  translated  and  published  in  the 
Farmers'  Register,  vol.  iii. 

f  This  pamphlet  was  republished  in  the  Farmers'  Register,  vol.  i.,  p. 
550. 


284  NATURAL  CONDITION'S   OF   MARL  BEDS. 

who  had  not  experience  or  information  of  the  sanitary  influence  of 
calcareous  manures. 

But  however  strong  the  conviction  of  these  authors  of  such 
effects  of  calcareous  manures,  they  offer  no  satisfactory  explanation 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  effects  are  produced.  But  whether 
lime,  in  soil,  exerts  its  health-preserving  power  by  "arresting  the 
noxious  effluvia  which  tend  to  rise  from  every  soil,"  &c. — or  by 
absorbing  noxious  matter,  or  annihilating  any  deleterious  properties 
it  possesses" — or,  according  to  my  previously  expressed  doctrine, 
by  the  power  of  lime  (calx)  to  combine  with  the  first  results  of 
putrefaction,  and  so  fix  them  in  the  soil,  there  to  serve  only  as  food 
for  plants — the  end  is  the  same,  of  converting  to  the  purpose  of 
fertilization  and  production  what  would  otherwise  escape  into  the 
air  in  the  form  of  pestilential  gases. 

The  important  facts,  recently  made  known  by  Dr.  "Wight,  as 
stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  that  the  calxing  of  soil  causes  the 
plants  grown  thereon  to  absorb  from  the  atmosphere  much  in- 
creased quantities  of  carbonic  acid,  and  to  evolve  proportionately 
increased  quantities  of  oxygen  gas,  serve  to  add  greatly  to  the  be- 
fore supposed  sanitary  operation  of  calxing  land.  Both  the  as- 
serted actions,  co-operating,  are  abundant  and  satisfactory  causes  for 
the  beneficial  effects  to  health  ;  and  of  which  effects  there  can  be 
no  longer  room  to  doubt,  seeing  the  testimony  adduced  from  France 
and  England,  in  addition  to  all  that  I  had  before  offered. 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 

TIIE  EXCAVATION  OF  MARL  PIT?,  AND  CARRYING  OCT  AND  APPLY- 
ING OF  MARL. 

The  natural  features  of  marl  beds,  and  their  exposures,  are  dif- 
ferent at  almost  every  locality ;  and  therefore  no  one  manner  of 
working  will  suit  precisely  for  different  diggings.  Still,  all  the  marl 
beds  of  Virginia  may  be  classed  under  three  heads,  in  reference  to 
the  excavation  and  removal  of  the  marl. 

I.  The  first  class  is  of  marl  exposed  (or  "cropping  out")  high 
up  on  hill-sides,  with  but  little  overlying  earth  to  remove  for  large 
excavations  of  the  marl  below — the  marl  and  the  adjacent  ground 
dry  and  free  from  springs — and  the  proper  sites  for  roads,  leading 
to" the  fields,  either  descending,  or  nearly  level,  or  with  not  much 
ascent.  Marl  so  lying  is  often  of  the  richest  kind,  containing  from 
60  to  more  than  80  per  cent,  of  pure  shelly  matter,  and  that  mostly 


DRY  AND   AVET   MARL  BEDS  IN   HILLY   LANDS.  285 

finely  divided.  Many  of  these  richest  and  also  almost  easily  worked 
bodies  of  marl  are  in  the  middle  range  across  the  rivers  and  the 
marl  region  of  Virginia;  for  example,  in  the  counties  of  Nanse- 
mond,  Isle  of  Wight,  Surry,  James  City,  York,  New  Kent,  and 
the  lower  part  of  King  William.  Under  these  very  favourable  cir- 
cumstances, special  directions  for  working  such  marls  would  bo 
superfluous.  The  labours  required  are  as  simple,  and  almost  as 
cheap,  as  the  digging  and  carting  away  of  earth  from  a  hill-side  to 
construct  a  mill-dam. 

II.  The  second  class  of  exposures  and  diggings  is  usually  of  much 
poorer  marl,  and  attended  with  much  more  difficulty  and  cost  than 
the  preceding.  In  high  lands,  cut  through  by  deep  ravines,  or 
narrow  valleys,  the  natural  "  out-croppings"  of  the  marl  are  usually 
low  down  the  sides,  or  at  the  bottoms  of  steep  hill-sides,  the  mail 
often  wet  from  springs  oozing  over  the  top,  and  also  from  water 
percolating  slowly  through  the  mass  of  marl.  The  lower  adjacent 
ground  is  also  wet,  by  springs  or  streams.  The  overlying  earth  is 
very  thick,  and  costly  to  remove ;  and  a  steep  or  a  long-ascending 
road  is  required  to  draw  the  marl  to  the  higher  lands  where  it  is  to 
be  applied. 

In  hilly  lands,  the  bed  of  marl  usually  "crops  out"  on  the 
swells,  or  convex  curves  of  the  hill-sides,  and  thus  is  naturally  ex- 
posed to  view.  If  this  is  at  a  considerable  elevation  above  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ravine  or  narrow  valley  which  is  usually  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  the  marl  will  generally  be  dry.  But  its  being  dry  will 
depend  on  some  one  of  the  following  conditions :  1st.  When  the 
overlying  beds  of  earth  have  not  enough  extent  of  surface  to  allow 
springs  to  be  formed  by  infiltration  of  rain-water;  or  there  is  no 
impervious  bed,  either  of  the  marl  or  its  overlay,  on  which  spring 
water  can  be  borne,  if  it  flows  from  distant  sources  :  2d.  Or  even 
if  there  be  any  such  impervious  and  water-bearing  stratum,  that  its 
"  dip"  is  in  a  direction  leading  from  the  "  out-cropping"  of  the 
marl;  so  that  all  spring- water,  or  infiltrated  rain-water,  must 
necessarily  flow  in  a  direction  leading  from  the  exposure.  In  the 
reversed  circumstances,  the  marl  will  be  wet,  and  proper  drainage 
of  the  pits  will  be  necessary.  Bodies  of  marl  of  this  second  class 
are  most  common  in  the  high  and  broken  lands  lying  between  the 
localities  named  above,  and  the  falls  of  the  rivers. 

III.  The  third  class  of  marl  generally  belongs  to  the  more  level 
lands,  but  in  some  cases  to  the  low  bottoms  and  ravines  of  the 
highest  and  most  hilly.  But  in  cither  case,  the  surface  of  the  marl 
is  lower  than  that  of  all  the  surrounding  land  (unless  perhaps  of 
the  lucre  outlet  for  the  water)  ;  and  the  excavations  and  the  roads 
all  need  careful  and  perfect  drainage. 

I  will  now  return  to  the  consideration,  principally,  of  excavations 
of  the  second  class ;  though  they  will  in  part  suit  also  for  the  third 
class. 


286 


EXCAVATION  OF   WET   MARL. 


There  is  a  general  dip  of  the  marl  to  the  east,  through  lower 
Virginia.  But  this  so  slight,  and  irregular  withal,  that  it  does  not 
always  direct  the  course  of  the  spring-water  above  according  to  the 
general  course  of  the  dip.  At  each  particular  locality,  the  marl 
stratum  may  be  considered  as  nearly  horizontal.  The  upper  sur- 
face of  the  dry  marls  is  often  very  irregular  in  outline,  owing  to 
the  washing  operation  of  ancient  currents  of  the  sea,  or  later  floods, 
and  whirpools,  subsequent  to  the  deposition  of  the  beds  of  shells. 

Unless  very  sandy  and  poor,  and  also  oozy,  all  our  marls  are 
sufficiently  firm  before  being  dug,  for  the  sides  of  a  pit  to  stand 
secure  when  cut  perpendicularly.  The  dry  beds,  of  course,  are 
much  easier  to  be  worked  than  the  wet.  Where  the  bed  is  dry, 
no  directions  are  required  for  pit-work ;  except  that  the  pit  shall 
be  long  enough  to  allow  the  carts  to  descend  therein,  and  to  rise 
out,  loaded,  on  a  graduated  and  gently  sloping  road-way.  This  will 
obviate  the  necessity  existing  when  pits  are  short  and  steep,  of 
twice  throwing  the  marl — first  out  of  the  pit,  and  afterwards  into 
the  carts.  No  machine  or  contrivance  yet  known  will  serve  as 
well  for  cheapness  to  raise  marl  from  the  bottom  of  a  pit,  or  dig- 
ging, as  a  cart ;  and  no  care  or  labour  will  be  lost  in  draining  and 
enlarging  the  pit,  and  graduating  the  ascent  out  from  it,  if  there- 
by carts  can  easily  and  safely  draw  from  the  bottom.  These  re- 
marks may  apply  to  any  excavation  made  by  sinking  pits  below 
the  level  of  the  general  surface. 

Profile,  or  cross-section  of  marl  diggings,  of  class  II 


% 


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i 

i 

J 

f   !x\    h 
\  \ 

Ctrl 

ratum 

mlP           T 

>      M 

m\ 

Explanations, 
b,  a,  Face  of  hill-side. 
s,  Stream,  or  bottom  of  valley. 
p,  c,  f,  h,  m,  Bed  of  marl,  out-cropping  at  c. 
m,  m,  Bottom  of  workable  marl. 
o,  d,  g,  Overlying  earth. 

I  will  describe  an  ordinary  case  of  hill-side  excavation. 


EXCAVATION   OF   MARL   IN   HILLY   LANDS.  287 

Suppose  the  marl  to  "  crop  out,"  or  otherwise  to  come  near  to 
the  surface  near  the  foot  of  a  high  hill-side  (as  at  c),  a  raviue  ami 
stream  beiug  at  the  bottom  (s),  and  table-land  at  the  top  of  the 
hill-side,  over  which  the  marl  is  to  be  carted  to  the  fields,  after 
rising  the  hill-side  by  a  graduated  road.  These  are  common  natural 
features  of  marl  localities,  in  hilly  lands  (and  of  class  II).  The 
out-crop,  or  natural  exposure  of  the  marl  (c)  is  on  a  convex  curve 
of  the  hill-side.  The  first  operation  is  to  clear  off  the  little  over- 
lay of  earth,  from  above  the  out-crop  (o),  so  as  to  uncover  a  suffi- 
cient space  for  digging  and  carting  (o,  c.)  This  space  should  be 
(if  practicable),  15  feet  across,  of  horizoutal  width,  to  permit  sin- 
gle-carts to  turn  upon  ;  and  as  long  (with  the  course  of  the  stream) 
as  the  ground  may  permit,  say  30  feet  or  more.  This  small  amount 
of  overlying  earth  (o)  is  easily  disposed  of,  by  being  thrown  into 
the  ravine,  or  across  the  stream.  The  uncovering  reaches  to  the 
top  of  the  marl  stratum,  which  is  supposed  12  feet  thick  ;  of  which, 
8  feet  are  above  and  1  below  the  level  of  the  stream.  A  road  is 
next  laid  off,  graduated  to  best  advantage,  and  constructed,  de- 
scending from  the  upper  table  land  to  the  uncovered  marl,  the  lower 
end  of  the  road  being  on  a  level  about  1  foot  higher  than  the 
stream,  and  of  course  5  feet  above  the  bottom  (in,  m),  of  the  marl 
fit  for  use.  (The  lowest  part  is  usually  too  poor,  and  sometimes 
too  much  affected  by  water,  to  be  worth  being  removed.)  If  springs 
ooze  out  over  the  top  of  the  marl,  a  little  trench  (v)  of  about  4 
inches  wide  and  as  many  deep,  must  be  made  along  the  back  line 
of  the  uncovering,  to  cut  off  and  convey  away  the  spring  water. 
The  uncovered  and  drained  marl  (c,  t,)  is  then  dug  and  carted  out ; 
the  work  being  so  conducted  as  to  level  the  surface,  and  enable  the 
carts  as  soon  as  the  surface  is  enough  lowered,  to  pass  over,  turn 
about,  and  be  loaded  upon  the  marl.  "When  the  whole  space  has 
been  dug  down  to  the  level  of  the  lower  end  of  the  road  (a,  t,) 
then  a  perpendicular  pit  should  be  dug  at  the  end  of  the  area 
farthest  from  the  descending  road,  and  across  its  whole  width. 
This  pit  (/>  p)  will  be  15  feet  long,  about  6  to  9  wide,  as  may 
be  most  convenient,  and  5  deep  when  finished  to  the  bottom.  The 
carts  turn  on  the  area  (a,  t,)  and  are  loaded  at  the  edge  of  this 
pit.  When  finished,  another  similar  pit  is  dug  alongside ;  and 
others  in  succession,  until  the  whole  area  of  the  first  uncovered 
marl  has  been  so  pitted  out.  The  overlay  (d)  is  then  dug  and 
thrown  off  from  the  next  range  or  section  of  marl  (/),  so  as  to 
uncover  another  width  of  15  feet.  The  removed  earth  here  (d), 
where  highest,  might  have  been  more  than  10  feet  thick.  But  the 
space  excavated  for  the  first  range  of  marl  (cp)  has  more  than 
room  enough  to  receive  all  this  earth. 

The  carts  now  have  to  be  supplied  from  the  second  range  of 
marl  (/).     As  this  is  throughout  of  the  full  thickness  of  the  bed, 


288  REMOVING   OVERLYING    EARTH. 

and  rising  7  feet  above  the  lower  end  of  the  road,  it  may  be  con- 
venient to  make  a  branch  to  the  road  running  on  a  level  to  the  top 
of  the  marl.  This  branch  will  be  used  until  the  lowering  of  the 
upper  marl,  by  its  excavation,  shall  render  the  lower  brands  of  the 
road  again  more  suitable.  This  range  of  the  marl  is  drained, 
worked  out  to  the  level  of  a  t,  and  then  the  lower  part  (;•,  r,)  ex- 
cavated in  successive  perpendicular  pits,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
previous  range.  Then  a  third  range  of  overlay  (y)  is  dug  and 
thrown  off  into  the  finished  previous  excavation  (/,  r,  r);  and  by 
its  increased  thickness  perhaps  fills  it  up  as  high  as  the  top  of  the 
marl  stratum.  But  this  does  no  serious  harm.  It  will  however 
require  the  leaving  a  wall  of  marl  (x,  .r)  when  diggiug  out  the 
marl  below  (h)  to  keep  out  the  earth  and  water  of  this  heap ;  and 
also  cross  walls  for  support,  between  the  lower  perpendicular  pits. 

It  will  now  be  much  more  laborious  to  uncover  another  range 
(at  i),  still  deeper  in  the  hill-side ;  and  it  will  become  a  question 
for  the  operator  to  decide,  whether  to  proceed  farther  with  this 
work  here,  or  to  begin  another  uncovering  in  some  more  favourable 
situation. 

For  any  extensive  operation,  it  is  much  cheaper  to  take  off  a 
cover  of  earth  20  feet  thick,  to  obtain  marl  of  equal  depth,  than 
if  both  the  covering  earth  and  marl  were  only  three  feet  each. 
Whether  the  cover  be  thick  or  thin,  two  parts  of  the  operation 
are  equally  troublesome,  viz.  to  take  off  the  mat  of  roots,  and  per- 
haps some  large  trees  on  the  surface  soil,  and  to  clean  off  the  sur- 
face of  the  marl,  which  is  sometimes  very  irregular.  The  greater  part 
of  the  thickest  cover  would  be  much  easier  to  work.  But  the  most  im- 
portant advantage  in  taking  off  earth  of  ten  or  more  feet  in  thick- 
ness, is  saving  digging  by  causing  the  earth  to  come  down  by  its 
own  weight.  If  time  can  be  allowed  to  aid  this  operation,  the 
dryest  earth  will  mostly  fall,  by  being  repeatedly  undermined  a 
little.  But  this  is  greatly  facilitated  by  the  oozing  water,  which 
generally  fills  the  earth  lying  immediately  on  beds  of  wet  marl.  In 
uncovering  a  bed  of  this  description,  for  one  of  my  early  operations, 
where  the  marl  was  to  be  dug  14  feet,  and  10  to  12  feet  of  earth 
to  remove,  my  labour  was  made  ten-fold  heavier  by  digging 
altogether.  The  surface  bore  living  trees,  and  was  full  of  roots — ' 
there  was  enough  stone  to  keep  the  edges  of  the  hoes  battered — 
and  small  springs  and  oozing  water  came  out  everywhere,  after 
digging  a  few  feet  deep.  A  considerable  part  of  the  earth  was  a 
tough,  adhesive  clay,  wet  throughout,  and  which  it  w'"$  equally 
difficult  to  get  on  the  shovels,  and  to  get  rid  of.  Some  years  after, 
another  pit  was  uncovered  on  the  same  bed,  and  under  like  circum- 
stances, except  that  the  time  was  the  last  of  summer,  and  there 
was  less  water  oozing  through  the  earth.  This  digging  was  begun 
at  the  lowest  part  of  the  earth,  which  was  a  layer  of  sand,  kept 


DRAINING   AND    WASHING    WET    MARL   PITS.  289 

quite  wet  and  soft  by  the  water  oozing  through  it.  With  gravel 
shovels,  this  was  easily  cut  under  from  one  to  two  feet  along  the 
whole  length  of  the  old  pit,  and,  as  fast  as  was  desirable,  the  upper 
earth,  thus  undermined,  fell  into  the  old  pit;  and  afterwards,  when 
that  did  not  take  place  of  itself,  the  fallen  earth  was  easily  thrown 
there  by  shovels.  As  the  earth  fell  separated  into  small  but  com- 
pact masses,  it  was  not  much  affected  by  the  water,  even  when  it 
remained  through  the  night  before  being  shoveled  away.  No  dig- 
ging was  required,  except  this  continued  shoveling  out  of  the 
lowest  sand  stratum ;  and  whether  clay,  or  stones,  or  roots,  were 
mixed  with  the  falling  earth,  they  were  easy  to  throw  off.  The 
numerous  roots,  which  were  so  troublesome  in  the  former  operation, 
were  now  an  advantage ;  as  they  supported  the  earth  sufficiently  to 
let  it  fall  only  gradually  and  safely ;  and  before  the  roots  fell,  they 
were  almost  clear  of  earth.  The  whole  body  of  earth,  notwith- 
standing all  its  difficulties,  was  moved  off  as  easily  as  the  dryest 
and  softest  could  have  been  by  digging  altogether.  The  thicker 
the  overlying  earth,  the  greater  is  the  facility  of  undermining,  and 
causing  it  to  fall  by  its  own  weight. 

In  working  a  pit  of  low-lying  and  wet  marl,  covered  and  sur- 
rounded by  higher  ground  (class  III.),  nopains  should  be  spared  to 
drain  it  as  effectually  as  possible.  Very  few  beds  of  marl  are 
penetrated  by  veins  of  running  water  which  would  deserve  the 
name  of  springs ;  but  water  generally  oozes  very  slowly  through 
every  part  of  wet  marl,  and  many  small  springs  often  burst  out 
immediately  over  its  surface.  After  the  form  of  the  pit  and  situa- 
tion of  the  road  are  determined,  a  ditch  to  receive  and  draw  off  all 
the  water  should  be  commenced  lower  down  the  valley,  as  deep 
as  the  bottom  of  the  area  where  the  carts  are  to  stand  is  expected 
to  be  made ;  and  the  ditch  opened  up  to  the  work,  deepening  as  it 
extends,  so  as  to  keep  the  bottom  of  the  ditch  on  as  low  a  level  as 
the  bottom  of  the  area.  It  may  be  cheaper,  and  will  serve  as  well, 
to  deepen  this  ditch  as  the  deepening  of  the  pit  proceeds.  After 
the  surface  of  the  marl  is  uncovered  for  the  full  size  intended  for 
the  area  (which  ought  to  be  at  least  large  enough  for  carts  to  turn 
about  on),  a  little  drain  of  three  or  four  inches  wide,  and  as  many 
deep  (or  the  size  made  by  the  grubbing-hoe  used  to  cut  it),  should 
be  carried  all  around  to  intercept  the  surface  or  spring-water,  and 
conduct  it  to  the  main  drain.  The  marl  will  now  be  dry  enough 
for  the  carts  to  be  brought  on  and  loaded.  But  as  the  digging 
proceeds,  oozing  water  will  collect  slowly  ;  and,  aided  by  the  wheels 
of  loaded  carts,  the  surface  of  the  firmest  marl  would  soon  be 
rendered  a  puddle,  and  next  a  quagmire.  This  may  easily  be  pre- 
vented by  the  inclination  of  the  surface.  The  first  course  dug  off 
should  be  much  the  deepest  next  the  surface  draiu  (leaving  a  mar- 
gin of  a  few  inches  of  firm  marl,  as  a  bank  to  keep  iu  the  stream), 
25 


290  WORKING   WET  MARL  PITS. 

so  that  the  digging  shall  be  the  lowest  around  the  outside,  and 
gradually  rise  in  level  to  the  middle  of  the  area  ;  or  next  to  the 
old  diggings,  now  heaped  with  the  later  removed  overlay.  What- 
ever water  may  find  its  way  within  the  work,  whether  from  oozing, 
rain,  or  accidental  bursting  of  the  little  surface  drain,  will  run  to 
the  outside,  the  dip  of  which  should  lead  to  the  lower  main  drain. 
After  this  form  has  once  been  given  to  the  surface  of  the  area, 
very  little  attention  is  required  to  preserve  it;  for  if  the  successive 
courses  are  dug  of  equal  depth  from  side  to  side,  the  previous 
shape  will  not  be  altered.  The  sides  or  walls  of  the  pit  should  be 
cut  (in  descending),  something  without  the  perpendicular,  so  that 
the  pit  is  made  12  or  15  inches  wider  at  bottom  than  top.  The  usual 
firm  texture  of  marl  will  prevent  any  danger  from  this  overhanging 
shape,  and  several  advantages  will  be  gained  from  it.  It  gives  more 
space  for  work — prevents  the  wheels  running  on  the  lowest  and 
wettest  parts — allows  more  earth  to  be  disposed  of,  in  opening  for 
the  next  pit — and  prevents  that  earth  from  tumbling  as  easily  into 
the  next  digging,  when  the  separating  wall  of  marl  is  afterwards 
cut  away.  The  upper  and  larger  drain  of  the  pit,  which  takes  the 
surface  water;  will  hang  over  the  small  one  below,  kept  for  the 
oozing  water.  The  former  remains  unaltered  throughout  the  job, 
and  may  still  convey  the  stream  when  six  feet  above  the  heads  of 
the  labourers  in  the  pit.  The  lower  drain  of  course  sinks  with  the 
digging.  Should  the  pit  be  dug  deeper  than  the  level  of  the  main 
receiving  ditch  can  be  sunk,  a  wall  should  be  left  between,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  oozing  water  must  be  conducted  to  a  little  basin 
near  the  wall,  and  thence  be  bailed  or  pumped  into  the  receiving 
ditch.  The  passage  for  the  earts  to  ascend  from  the  pit  should  be 
kept  on  a  suitable  slope ;  and  the  marl  forming  that  slope  may  be 
cut  out  in  small  pits,  after  all  the  other  digging  has  been  completed. 

If  the  marl  is  so  situated  that  carts  cannot  be  driven  as  low  as 
the  bottom,  either  because  of  the  danger  of  flooding,  or  that  the 
ascent  would  be  too  steep  for  sufficiently  easy  draught,  then  the 
area  must  be  cut  out  in  small  pits,  as  before  stated,  beginning  at 
the  back  part,  and  extending  as  they  proeeed,  towards  the  road 
leading  out  of  the  pit. 

It  is  the  less  required  to  extend  directions  for  the  mode  of  work- 
ing low-lying  marl,  covered  and  sourrounded  by  higher  land,  and 
by  its  springs,  because  large  excavations  under  these  difficulties, 
will  be  described  in  a  later  part  of  this  work,  and  the  whole  course 
of  procedure  minutely  stated. 

In  some  cases,  either  because  of  the  great  liability  of  the  over- 
lying oozy  earth  to  cave  and  fall  in,  and  thus  continually  to  choke 
the  surrounding  marl  drains,  or  of  rain-floods  to  fill  and  damage 
the  excavations,  it  is  too  hazardous  to  leave  diggings  unfinished  for 
any  length  of  time ;  and  still  more  for  the  unfinished  work  to  be 


CRANE   FOR   RAISING   MARL  BY   IIORSE   POWER.  291 

suspended  through  winter.  In  such  cases,  it  is  better  to  bestow 
more  labour  to  obtain  security.  Under  such  circumstances  perpen- 
dicular pits  should  be  sunk  first  through  the  over-lay  and  then  the 
marl.  If  not  too  great  a  height,  the  marl,  as  dug,  should  be 
thrown  to  the  top  of  the  remaining  firm  earth,  there  to  be  thrown 
into  and  removed  by  the  carts.  When  the  digging  is  carried  so 
low  that  the  throwing  exceeds  10  feet  in  perpendicular  height,  a 
scaffold  should  be  made,  or  a  shelf  of  marl  left,  at  the  side 
of  the  pit  next  to  which  the  carts  approach,  and  at  a  convenient 
height  for  the  remainder  of  the  digging.  The  lower  marl  will  be 
thrown  first  upon  the  scaffold,  thence  to  the  surface  of  the  ground 
above,  and  then  into  the  carts.  Thus,  the  marl  may  be  thrown  up 
from  the  bottom  of  the  bed,  if  that  be  not  more  than  20  feet  be- 
low the  surface,  for  loading.  The  length  and  breadth  of  such  pits 
should  not  be  greater  than  to  permit  each  pit  to  be  finished  in  a 
few  days  after  its  commencement.  Then  an  adjoining  like  space 
may  be  uncovered,  the  earth  being  thrown  into  the  previous  dig- 
ging, and  the  marl  excavated  in  like  manner.  Should  a  flood  of 
rain-water,  or  the  caving  in  of  wet  earth  fill  such  a  pit,  when  the 
digging  had  not  been  sunk  but  a  few  feet,  the  damage  may  be 
remedied  and  the  remaining  marl  saved.  Or  if  but  a  few  feet 
thickness  of  marl  be  left,  and  is  covered  by  earth  or  water  in 
too  great  quantity  to  be  worth  clearing  out,  then  the  loss  of  the 
bottom  marl  will  not  be  very  important. 

For  such  situations  as  these,  in  some  cases  lifting  machines  have 
been  used  successfully.  One  used  by  Win.  Carmichael,  Esq.,  of 
Maryland,  was  described  by  him  in  a  communication  to  the  Far- 
mers' Register,  as  follows : 

"  In  your  'Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures,'  you  give  instructions 
for  digging  and  carting  marl.  This  method  I  pursued  for  many 
years,  but  found  the  labour  hard  on  my  hands,  and  tedious.  Marl 
here  is  generally  found  in  deep  ravines  or  in  wet  grounds.  My 
operations  have  been  slow,  from  the  difficulty  of  making  firm  and 
lasting  ways,  and  the  labour  of  ascending  steep  hills.  Last  winter 
I  made  a  model,  and  this  spring  I  built  a  machine  for  raising  marl, 
to  be  worked  by  a  horse.  I  have  been  using  it  to  advantage,  and 
now  send  you  a  draught  of  it,  as  it  may  be  useful  to  thoso 
who  have  wet  marl  pits  like  mine.  By  means  of  a  pump  to  throw 
off  the  water,  pits  may  be  worked  at  a  considerable  depth ;  and 
even  if  marl  is  dry,  but  lies  deep,  I  think  the  crane  might  be  used 
to  advantage.  I  use  two  boxes,  and  by  means  of  hinges  and  a 
latch  the  marl  is  discharged  from  the  bottom.  I  have  double 
blocks;  the  rope  passes  through  the  swoop  about  eighteen  inches 
from  the  end,  and  runs  down  to  the  post  which  supports  the  swoop, 
and  passes  through  it  on  a  small  roller,  and  in  like  manner  through 
the  next  post  to  the  cylinder,  to  which  a  reel  is  attached  to  increase 
the  motion.     The  post  which  holds  the  swoop  and  the  cylinder, 


292 


CRANE   FOR  RAISING    MARL   BY   HORSE   POWER. 


runs  on  iron  pins  let  into  thimbles.  The  lever  is  in  two  pieces, 
one  fastened  iu  the  cylinder  with  a  groove  at  the  end,  into  which 
the  other  is  let,  and  secured  by  a  sliding  iron  clamp.  When  the 
marl  is  discharged  from  the  box,  and  the  swoop  swung  round  over 
the  pit,  in  nautical  phrase,  by  unshipping  the  end  of  the  lever,  the 
rope  unwinds,  and  the  box  descends  without  moving  the  bone. 
The  circle  in  which  the  horse  travels  ought  to  be  twenty-one  feet  in 
diameter.      The  second  and  third  posts  are  supported  by  side  braces. 


M  The  cost  of  the  machine  is  small,  though  I  cannot  make  an 
exact  estimate.  The  carpenter  who  did  the  work  was  hired  by  the 
day  on  the  farm,  and  was  taken  off  with  other  jobs;  but  his  bill 
could  not  exceed  eight  dollars.  The  cost  of  the  iron-work  was 
ten,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  of  inch  rope,  at  eighteen 
and  a  half  cents  a  pound.  The  timber,  taken  from  my  own  woods, 
may  be  estimated  at  five  dollars.  The  rope  I  find  soon  wears  out, 
and  I  intend  to  supply  its  place  with  a  light  iron  chain. 

"  "When  the  marl  is  uncovered,  with  one  efficient  hand  in  the  pit 
and  a  less  efficient  one  to  discharge  the  boxes  and  drive  the  horse, 
five  hundred  bushels  may  be  raised  in  a  day.  The  work  is  not 
oppressive  to  the  labourers.  The  teams  stand  on  high,  dry  ground; 
no  sloughs  to  plunge  through,  and  no  hill  to  climb.  The  swoop 
is  turned  by  a  small  rope  over  the  carts,  and  the  marl  immediately 
discharged  into  them.  I  work  four  carts,  with  two  sets  of  oxen  to 
each.  They  came  out  of  the  winter  lean  and  weak ;  and  now,  with 
green  clover  for  their  food,  at  the  distance  of  a  half  to  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  I  draw  out  from  four  to  five  hundred  bushels  a  day,  and 
my  oxen  have  improved.  My  work  goes  on  with  ease  and  expedi- 
tion, without  stoppage  to  mend  roads,  or  to  clean  ditches." 

The  machine  which  will  be  described  below  is  used  at  Fortress 
Monroe  for  raising  sand  from  the  fosse  to  fill  the  ramparts ;  and 
has  been  found  by  experience  to  be  the  best  contrivance  of  all 
which  have  been  tried  for  that  operation,  and  for  which  an  immense 
amount  of  labour  was  necessary  in  constructing  the  defences  of  the 
fortress.  Precisely  the  same  manner  of  operation  is  required  for 
raising  marl  from  deep  pits,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  this 
being  a  more  effective  machine  for  that  purpose  than  any  worked 
by  hand.     The  force  applied  is  the  weight  of  the  labourers,  on 


MACHINE    FOR    HAND   LABOUR. 


293 


the  principle  of  the  tread-mill,  which,  though  heavy  labour,  is  the 
most  effective  manner  in  which  the  power  of  men  can  be  applied. 
I  am  iudebted  for  the  suggestion  of  this  machine  for  raising  marl 
to  the  observation  and  scientific  knowledge  of  mechanics  of  my 
friend  Professor  M.  Tuomey,  and  also  for  the  following  description, 
and  the  drawings  for  the  engraved  figures.  Mr.  Tuomey,  when 
makiug  a  transient  visit  to  the  fortress,  had  seen  the  machine  at 
work;  and  after  reading  in  the  foregoing  part  of  this  work  the 
remarks  on  the  different  modes  of  raising  marl,  and  having  wit- 
nessed some  of  the  usual  modes  in  practice,  this  machine  and  what 
he  had  seen  of  its  power  appeared  greatly  superior,  wherever  cir- 
cumstances may  require  the  use  of  machinery.  Up'm  being  thus 
informed,  I  applied  to  Dr.  Robert  Archer,  U.  S.  A.  Surgeon  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  for  a  rough  plan,  and  accurate  statement  of  the 
dimensions  of  the  machine,  both  of  which  he  kindly  furnished  j 
and  with  the  aid  of  these,  Mr.  Tuomey  has  been  enabled  to  give 
such  particular  description  and  correct  delineation  as  will  serve  for 
full  instruction  for  the  building  and  working  of  the  machine. 


Fie.  1. 


"  1.  Figure  1  is  a  side  view,  in  perspective. 

i,  i.  The  base,  consisting  of  3  pieces  of  scantling,  each  12  feet  long,  and 
11  inches  by  5,  notched  on  to  each  other  about  6  inches  from  the  end,  so 
as  to  be  flush  on  top,  forming  an  equilateral  triangle. 

e,  The  principal  post  8  feet,  8  by  C  inches,  secured  to  the  base,  and  braced 
by  the  braces  /.  Near  the  top  of  this  post  2  iron  sheeves  or  pulleys  are 
placed,  one  on  each  side,  and  secured  by  pieces  spiked  over  them.  The 
chains  pass  over  these  pulleys. 

/.   2  braces  11  feet  long,  4  inches  by  G. 

h,  h,  Two  uprights,  in  which  the  gudgeons  of  the  wheel  turn;  they  are 
bolted  to  the  base  and  connected  at  the  top  by  the  piece  g,  10  feet  6 
inches  long,  i\  by  6  inches,  which  also  serves  as  a  hand  rail  for  the  men 
to  steady  by  when  working  on  the  wheel.  These  uprights  are  further 
Bccured  by  cross-pieces  connected  with  the  braces,  and  bearing  in  front 


294 


MACHINE   FOR    ITAXD   LABOUR. 


anrl  rear  of  the  wheel  two  steps  on  which  the  men  stand  as  they  go  on  or 
off  the  wheel. 

w.  The  wheel  4  feet  in  diameter,  the  steps  Z\  feet  long  8  inches  wide,  made 
of  \\  inch  plank.  The  ends  of  the  wheels  are  formed  of  two  thicknesses 
of  inch  plank  placed  crosswise,  the  inside  being  grooved  to  receive  the 
steps  which  are  placed  about  8  inches  apart.  The  axle  of  the  wheel  is 
10  feet  6  inches  long  and  8  inches  in  diameter,  the  portion  round  which 
the  rope  winds  is  enlarged,  so  as  to  suit  the  force  employed  on  the  wheel, 
or  the  weight  to  be  raised,  by  nailing  on  strips  of  plank,  over  which  a 
few  turns  of  old  rope  may  be  placed  to  prevent  the  slipping  of  the  chain. 

To  prevent  confusion,  only  one  crane  (or  arm)  is  represented  in  this  figure. 

The  crane  post  is  represented  as  turning  on  two  iron  pivots  in  pieces  s,  «, 
one  bolted  to  the  principal  post  e,  and  the  other  spiked  to  the  base.  The 
crane  post  is  6  inches  square. 

a.  The  crane  jib,  7  feet  6  inches  long,  6  by  7  inches. 

b.  The  strut  to  the  jib,  8  feet  6  inches  long,  4  by  6  inches.  Near  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  jib  an  iron  sheeve  is  fixed  over  which  the  chain  passes. 

c.  Is  a  three-quarter  inch  rod  of  iron  secured  to  a  by  means  of  a  staple, 
and  having  a  hook  at  the  other  end,  which  drops  into  a  staple  at  i.  This 
rod  serves  the  double  purpose  of  a  stay  and  a  guide,  by  which  (when 
unhooked)  the  arm  is  drawn  to  one  side  for  the  purpose  of  landing  the 
box.  When  fixed  as  represented  in  the  drawing,  it  serves  to  retain  the 
crane  in  its  proper  position.  When  the  box  is  raised  the  rod  is  unhooked, 
and  by  means  of  it  the  box  is  landed. 

Fig.  2. 


Figure  2  is  a  front  view,  showing  the  relative  position  of  the  cranes,  which 
are  represented  as  turned  aside.  The  chain  is  seen  winding  around  the 
axle.  It  is  evident  that  the  men  must  pass  to  the  opposite  side  of  the 
wheel  as  each  box  is  drawn  up. 

jj.  Represents  2  views  of  the  boxes,  which  are  square  and  may  be  each 
about  21  inches  every  way.  They  will  then  contain  nearly  6  cubic  feet 
each.     They  are  suspended  by  two  pins,  placed  a  little  below  and  to  one 


ROAD-MAKING.  295 

side  of  the  centre  so  as  to  turn  over  and  empty  themselves  when  a  small 
iroD  pin  seen  ;it ./,  figure  2,  is  withdrawn.  Three  men  can  be  employed 
to  advantage  at  the  wheel,  two  remaining  on,  whilst  the  third  gins  oil'  to 
land  the  box.  Should  the  box  not  be  heavy  enough,  the  diameter  of  the 
axle  can  be  enlarged,  so  as  to  make  up  in  time  what  is  lost  in  weight. 
Should  it  be  too  heavy  for  the  force  employed,  the  diameter  may  be  les- 
sened." 

The  above  dimensions  of  timbers  were  tbose  of  the  particular 
machine  measured  by  Dr.  Archer;  but  they  vary  in  all  the  machines 
of  this  kind  used  at  the  fortress.  The  length  of  the  arms  of  course 
should  be  proportioned  to  the  height  to  which  the  loaded  buckets 
are  to  be  raised.  For  marl,  any  sized  timbers  on  hand,  or  logs, 
that  are  long  enough,  would  serve  for  the  base  (t,  i.)  It  is  how- 
ever desirable  that  the  machine  should  be  as  light  as  is  consistent 
with  strength,  for  the  greater  facility  of  moving  it;  and  for  strength 
alone  (as  in  all  other  machines)  the  large  size  of  timbers  is  of  less 
importance  than  their  being  well  put  together.  Two  thick  and 
narrow  planks,  firmly  spiked  together,  and  with  a  space  left  be- 
tween of  proper  size  for  the  sheeve  to  play  in  at  the  upper  end, 
would  be  a  cheaper  substitute  for  the  jib  a.  When  carts  are  re- 
moving the  maid  at  the  same  time  it  is  raised,  there  would  be  much 
advantage  gained  in  having  the  boxes  of  such  size  as  to  be  emptied 
into  the  carts,  and  the  measure  or  load  of  a  bos,  to  be  some  aliquot 
part  of  the  loads  for  the  carts. 

Machines  of  this  kind  will  be  required,  and  will  be  most  profita- 
ble, whenever  marl  is  to  be  taken  from  deep  and  wet  pits,  and  in 
extended  operations. 

Making  Roads. 

On  high  and  billy  land,  marl  is  generally  found  near  the  bottom 
of  ravines,  and  separated  from  the  field  to  which  it  is  to  be  carried 
by  a  high  and  steep  hill-side.  The  difficulty  of  cutting  roads  in  suck 
situations  is  much  less  than  any  inexperienced  person  would  sup- 
pose. We  cannot  get  rid  of  any  of  the  actual  elevation — but  the 
ascent  may  be  made  as  gradual  as  is  desired,  by  a  proper  location 
of  the  road.  The  intended  course  must  be  laid  off  by  the  eye,  and 
the  upper  side  of  the  road  marked.  If  it  passes  through  woods, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  use  grubbing  hoes  for  the  digging.  With 
these,  the  digging  should  be  begun  at  the  distance  of  four  or  five 
feet  below  the  marked  line,  and  carried  horizontally  onward  to  it. 
The  earth  so  dug  is  to  be  pulled  back  with  the  broad  hoes,  and 
laid  over  a  width  of  three  or  four  feet  below  the  place  from  which 
it  was  taken.  Thus  the  upper  side  of  the  road  is  formed  by  cut- 
ting down,  and  the  lower  side  by  filling  up  with  the  earth  taken 
from  above. 


296  ROAD-MAKING 


a 

The  annexed  figure  will  prevent  these  directions  being  misunder- 
stood. The  straight  line  from  a  to  b  represents  the  original  slope 
of  the  hill-side,  of  which  the  whole  figure  is  a  section.  The  upper 
end  of  the  dotted  part  of  the  line  is  in  the  mark  for  laying  off  the 
upper  side  of  the  road.  The  upper  triangle  is  a  section  of  the 
earth  dug  out  of  the  hill-side,  and  the  lower  triangle  of  the  part 
filled  up  by  its  removal.  The  horizontal  line  is  the  level  of  the 
road  formed  by  cutting  in  on  the  upper,  and  filling  up  on  the  lower 
side.  After  shaping  the  road  roughly,  the  deficiencies  will  be  seen, 
and  may  be  corrected  in  the  finishing  work,  by  deepening  some 
places  and  filling  up  others,  so  as  to  graduate  the  whole  properly. 
A  width  of  ten  feet  of  firm  road  will  be  sufficient  for  carting  marl 
up  a  short  hill. 

If  the  land  through  which  the  road  is  to  be  cut  is  not  very  steep, 
and  is  free  from  trees  and  roots,  the  operation  may  be  made  much 
cheaper  by  using  the  plough.  The  first  furrow  should  be  run  along 
the  line  of  the  lower  side  of  the  intended  road,  and  turned  down 
hill ;  the  plough  then  returns  empty,  to  carry  a  second  furrow  by 
the  first.  In  this  manner  it  proceeds,  cutting  deeply,  and  throwing 
the  slices  far  (both  of  which  are  easily  done  on  a  hill-side),  until 
rather  more  than  the  required  width  for  the  road  is  ploughed. 
The  ploughman  then  begins  again  over  his  first  furrow,  and  ploughs 
the  whole  over  as  at  first,  and  this  course  is  repeated  perhaps  once 
or  twice  more,  until  enough  earth  is  cut  from  the  upper  and  put  on 
the  lower  side  of  the  road.  After  the  first  ploughing,  broad  hoes 
should  aid  and  complete  the  work,  by  pulling  down  the  earth  from 
the  higher  to  the  lower  side,  and  particularly  in  those  places  where 
the  hill-side  is  steepest.  After  the  proper  shape  is  given,  carts,  at 
first  empty,  and  then  with  light  loads,  should  be  driven  over  every 
part  of  the  surface  of  the  road  until  it  is  firm.  If  a  heavy  rain 
-should  fall  before  it  has  been  thus  trodden,  the  road  would  be  ren- 
dered useless  for  a  considerable  time. 


IMPLEMENTS,    CARTS   AND    TEAMS   FUR   MARL.  2U7 

Implements  and  Means  for  facilitating  the  Labours — Application 

of  Marl. 

These  directions  are  mostly  suited  for  greater  difficulties  than 
usually  occur,  though  they  are  such  as  attended  most  of  my  labours 
in  marling.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  there  will  be  less 
labour,  and  care,  and  skill  required,  because  there  will  not  be  en- 
countered such  obstacles  as  high  and  steep  hills  to  ascend,  thick 
over-lying  earth  to  remove,  or  wet  pits  and  roads  to  keep  drained. 

In  large  operations  and  in  dry  and  compact  marl,  much  labour 
of  digging  may  be  saved  by  slightly  undermining  the  face  of  a  per- 
pendicular body  of  marl,  and  then  splitting  off  large  masses,  by 
driving  in  a  line  of  large  wooden  wedges  on  the  upper  surface. 

For  very  hard  marl,  narrow  and  heavy  pickaxes  are  the  best  dig- 
ging implements.  For  softer  marl,  though  still  of  close  and  com- 
pact texture,  heavy  and  narrow  grubbing  hoes  are  better.  They 
should  weigh  near  or  quite  7  lbs.  when  new,  and  have  the  cutting 
edge  8  to  3  k  inches.  Gravel  shovels  (with  rounded  points  and 
long  handles),  of  the  best  quality,  are  the  cheapest  and  most  effec- 
tive tools  for  throwing  out  the  marl,  and  loading  the  carts,  as  well 
as  for  afterwards  spreading  the  heaps  in  the  field. 

Tumbrel  or  tilting  carts,  drawn  by  one  horse  or  mule,  are  the 
most  convenient  for  conveying  marl  very  short  distances ;  and  even 
for  longer  distances,  if  on  hilly  roads  and  fields.  Every  part  of 
such  carts  should  be  as  light  as  will  serve  for  strength,  and  the 
body  should  be  so  small  as  to  hold  only  the  load  it  is  designed  to 
carry.  This  enables  the  drivers  to  measure  every  load ;  which 
advantage,  on  trial,  will  be  found  very  important.  If  carts  of 
common  and  much  larger  sizes  are  used,  the  careless  labourers  will 
generally  load  too  lightly,  and  yet  will  sometimes  injure  the  horse 
by  too  heavy  loading.  The  small-sized  cart-bodies  prevent  both  these 
faults.  Their  loads  cannot  be  made  much  too  heavy ;  and  if  too 
light,  the  deficiency  is  detected  at  a  glance.  "When  there  is  much 
or  steep  ascent  in  the  carriage  way,  5  heaped  bushels  of  ordinary 
wet  marl,  or  6  of  dry,  will  make  a  full  load  for  a  good  mule,  or 
ordinary  horse.  The  larger  quantity  may  be  put  in  by  heaping 
somewhat  above  the  level  of  the  cart.  The  greatest  objection  to 
these  carts  is  that  they  are  too  small  to  carry  loads  of  anj-thing  but 
marl.  On  roads  nearly  level,  tumbrels  drawn  by  two  mules  arc 
much  preferable.  There  is  the  saving  of  another  driver,  and  the 
cost  and  weight  of  another  cart ;  and  though  the  cart  is  large  and 
heavy,  it  is  so  much  lighter  than  two  small  carts,  that  two  mules 
together  in  the  former,  will  draw  full  as  much  weight  as  if  separate 
and  with  the  latter.  The  larger  carts  should  hold  about  15  heaped 
bushels  of  marl,  when  the  load  is  level  with  the  top  of  the  body ; 
and  which  may  be  increased  to  18  or  19  bushels  (the  proper  load 


DROPPING   AND    SPREADING   MARL. 

for  two  mules  on  level  land  and  firm  roads)  by  heaping.  Two 
mules  together  will  draw  this  load,  or  about  1900  lbs.  ;  or  one 
mule,  in  a  light  cart,  9  bushels,  as  easily  as  the  latter  will  draw  5 
bushels  on  hilly  land.  But  on  hilly  land,  two-mule  carts  cannot 
well  be  used.  For  when  drawing  up  a  hill,  if  one  mule  ceases  to 
pull  for  ever  so  short  a  time,  the  whole  load,  and  a  doubled  labour, 
is  put  upon  the  other  mule,  which  is  thus  over-strained,  and  taught 
to  balk,  if  not  otherwise  damaged. 

Strong  labourers  are  required  for  digging  and  shovelling  marl. 
Boys  of  12  to  14  years  old  may  drive  single-mule  carts.  The 
animals  kept  regularly  at  such  hauling  soon  become  so  gentle  and 
tractable,  that  very  little  skill  or  strength  is  required  in  the  driver. 
But  for  a  two-mule  cart,  an  active  and  careful  young  man  should 
drive,  because  his  strength  is  required  at  some  times,  and  his  judg- 
ment and  care  always  to  load  properly,  and  to  make  the  mules  draw 
equally. 

One  of  the  most  general  and  injurious  errors  in  marling,  is  the 
unequal  and  irregular  spreading  of  the  marl  on  the  land.  From 
this  cause  it  often  happens  that  there  is  too  much  and  too  little 
marl  applied  to  the  same  quarter-acre;  and  sorrel  still  remaining 
and  growing,  and  "  marl-burnt"  corn,  may  be  seen  not  many  yards 
apart.  The  only  effectual  means  which  I  have  found  to  attain  any- 
thing like  equal  distribution,  has  been  to  measure  by  stepping,  and 
marking  with  a  hoe,  each  distance  for  a  heap  to  be  dropped.  This 
has  been  done  by  myself  for  much  the  greater  quantity  of  all  the 
marl  I  have  had  carried  out ;  as  I  never  could  have  the  measuring 
and  marking  of  distances  done  with  sufficient  accuracy  by  the  dri- 
vers. If  the  field  had  been  left  in  beds,  or  the  rows  of  the  last  pre- 
vious ploughing  are  visible,  it  will  much  facilitate  the  marking. 
Otherwise,  rows  must  be  marked  by  the  plough  in  one  direction, 
or  measuring  poles  must  be  set  up  at  each  extremity  of  the  rows 
for  marl,  to  mark  the  cross-distance  as  well  as  to  guide  the  direction 
of  the  rows.  The  thus  placing  the  heaps  at  regular  or  average 
distances  is  the  best  security  for  regular  distribution  of  the  marl 
in  spreading.  But,  nevertheless,  the  latter  operation  ought  to  be 
carefully  watched,  and  made  as  uniform  as  will  serve  for  thorough 
and  equal  diffusion  through  the  soil,  with  the  subsequent  aid  in 
tillage,  of  ploughing  and  harrowing. 

Some  extensive  marlers,  before  commencing  on  a  field,  have  it 
marked  off  by  a  plough  for  the  placing  of  the  heaps  of  marl.  If 
the  land  is  in  beds,  cross-furrows  only  are  needed.  If  the  surface 
is  smooth,  it  must  also  be  marked  at  right-angles.  In  either  case, 
the  field  is  thus  marked  off  into  rectangular  spaces,  in  each  of  which 
a  heap  of  marl  is  dropped,  and  over  the  whole  of  which  space  it  is 
afterwards  to  be  spread.  But  I  found  this  mode  more  objection- 
able  than  the  former.     The   drivers  have  so  much  latitude,  that 


MARLING   TABLES. 


299 


they  are  very  careless  as  to  where  they  drop  their  heaps  within 
each  rectangle;  and  the  spreaders  have  more  labour  to  distribute 
the  marl  equally,  and  therefore  are  more  apt  to  neglect  it.  Besides, 
it  is  often  requisite  to  alter  the  distances  of  the  heaps,  either  because 
of  change  of  soil,  or  because  of  change  in  the  sizes  of  the  loads, 
owing  to  altered  condition  of  the  roads. 

Marling  Tahlcs  and  Estimates. 

The  following  tables  may  be  useful  in  facilitating  calculations, 
and  promoting  the  important  object  of  applying  marl  in  equal  and 
uniform  quantities,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  marl  and  the 
wants  of  the  soil ;  which  object,  however,  is  generally  so  little  re- 
garded, that  few  persons  attempt  by  calculation  to  reach  any  of  the 
results  which  these  tables  are  designed  to  show  by  mere  reference. 

Table  I.  Showing  the  number  of  cubic  feet  of  dug  marl  (as  compressed  by  its 
weight  in  the  loaded  carts),  necessary  to  furnish  one  per  cent,  of  carbonate 
of  lime  to  the  acre  of  soil,  for  the  ploughed  depths  stated  : 


Marl  contain- 

ing of  carb. 

3  inches. 

4  inches. 

5  inches. 

6  inches. 

7  inches. 

8  inches. 

lime. 

per  cent. 

cubic  feet. 

cubic  feet. 

cubic  feet. 

cubic  feet. 

cubic  feet. 

cubic  leet. 

10 

1089. 

1452. 

1815. 

2178. 

2541. 

2904. 

20 

544.5 

726. 

907.5 

1089. 

1270.5 

1452. 

30 

363. 

484. 

605. 

726. 

847. 

968. 

40 

272.25 

363. 

453.75 

544.5 

635.25 

726. 

50 

217.8 

290.4 

363. 

435.6 

508.2 

580.8 

60 

181.5 

242. 

302.5 

363. 

423.5 

480.66 

70 

155.57 

207.43 

259.28 

211.14 

363. 

414.86 

80 

136.12 

181.5 

226.87 

272.25 

317.62 

363. 

90 

121. 

161.33 

201.66 

242. 

282.33 

322.66 

100 

108.9 

145.2 

181.5 

217.8 

254.1 

290.4 

Table  II.  Shoiving  the  number  of  even  bushels  of  marl,  as  compressed  by  its 
weight  in  the  carts,  necessary  to  furnish  one  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime  to 
the  soil,  for  the  tilled  depths  stated : 


Marl  cont'inp 
per  cent  of 
carb.  lime. 

3  inches. 

i  inches. 

5  inches. 

6  inches. 

1  inches. 

8  inches. 

10 

bushels. 
875.1 

bushel  s. 
1166.8 

bushels. 

1458.5 

bushels. 

1750.2 

bushels. 
2041.9 

bushels. 

2333.6 

20 

437.55 

583.4 

729.25 

875.1 

1020.95 

1166.8 

30 

291.7 

388.93 

486.17 

583.4 

080.63 

777.87 

40 

218.77 

291.7 

364.62 

437.55 

510.47 

583.4 

50 

175.02 

233.36 

291.7 

350.04 

408.38 

468.72 

60 

145.85 

194.46 

243.08 

291.7 

340.31 

388.93 

70 

125.01 

180.97 

208.36 

250.03 

291.7 

333.37 

80 

109.38 

145.85 

182.31 

218.77 

255.23 

291.7 

90 

97.23 

129.64 

162.05 

194.40 

226.88 

259.29 

100 

87.51 

116.58 

145.85 

175.02 

204.19 

233.36 

300 


MARLING  TABLES. 


Table  III.,  showing  the  number  of  rectangular  spaces,  of  various  dimensions., 
in  an  acre  of  land. 


Rectan- 

Yards. 

Sq.  yds. 

gular 
Spaces. 

15x15 

=225 

22 

15x14 

—210 

23 

15x13 

195 

25 

15x12 

180 

27 

15x11 

165 

29 

15x10 

150 

32 

15x  9 

135 

36 

15x  8 

120 

40 

14x14 

196 

24 

14x13 

182 

26 

14x12 

168 

29 

14x11 

•154 

31 

14x10 

140 

34 

14x  9 

126 

38 

14x  8 

112 

43 

14x  7 

98 

49 

13x13 

169 

28 

13x12 

156 

31 

13x11 

143 

34 

13x10 

130 

37 

13x  9 

117 

41 

13x  8 

104 

46 

13x  7 

91 

53 

12x12 

144 

33 

12x11 

132 

36 

Rectan- 

Vards. 

Sq.  yds. 

gular 

Spaces. 

12x10 

=120 

40 

I2x  9 

=108 

44 

12x  8 

96 

50 

12x  7 

84 

57 

12x  6 

72 

67 

11x11 

121 

40 

11x10 

110 

44 

llx  9 

99 

48 

llx  8 

88 

54 

llx  7 

77 

62 

llx  6 

60 

73 

10x10 

100 

48 

lOx  9 

90 

53 

lOx  8 

80 

60 

lOx  7 

70 

69 

lOx  6 

00 

80 

lOx  5 

50 

96 

9x  9 

81 

59 

9x  8 

72 

67 

9x  7 

63 

76 

8x  8 

64 

75 

8x  7 

56 

86 

7x  7 

49 

98 

7x  6 

42 

114 

6x  6 

36 

133 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  direct  the  application  of  these  tables 
to  practical  operations ;  and  therefore  a  single  example  only  will 
•  be  offered.  Suppose  a  farmer's  marl  contains  about  40  per  cent, 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  he  wishes  to  give  1  per  cent,  to  his  de- 
signed tilled  depth  of  5  inches.  He  takes  the  number  40  per  cent, 
in  the  first  column  of  Table  II.,  and  passes  thence  in  the  samo 
horizontal  line  across  the  table  until  reaching  the  column  headed 
(l  5  inches."  The  number  at  the  intersection  is  364.62,  the  num- 
ber of  bushels  of  marl  required.  Next,  to  apportion  this  quantity 
to  the  acre.  The  heaps  he  can  most  conveniently  make,  we  will 
suppose,  will  be  8  bushels.  Dividing  364.62  by  eight,  gives  about 
45£  heaps  required  for  the  acre.  Then  referring  to  Table  III.,  for 
that  number  of  spaces,  or  the  nearest  to  that  number,  in  an  acre, 
it  is  seen  that  the  distances  of 

14  X  8  yards,  will  make  43  heaps. 

13  X  8      "  "        46       " 

11  X  10    "  "        44       << 

Either  of  these  quantities  would  be  suitable  enough ;  and  tho 
farmer  would  choose  the  distances  which  will  best  suit  his  width 


MARLING   ESTIMATES.  301 

of  ploughing.  If  desiring  more  perfect  exactness,  it  could  be  easily 
obtained  by  adding  to  or  deducting  from  one  of  the  dimensions  the 
necessary  fraction  of  a  yard. 

Heaped  bushels  of  loose  marl,  as  measured  separately,  do  not 
vary  much  from  the  same  number  of  even  bushels,  as  compressed 
in  a  cart  body,  by  its  own  weight,  and  by  the  travel  to  the  field. 
I  find  reference  to  bushels  more  convenient  than  to  cubic  feet.  But 
if  preferred,  the  same  desired  results  may  be  reached  by  using 
Table  I.,  and  cubic  feet  as  the  measure  instead  of  bushels. 

The  measuring  of  marl,  in  a  half-bushel  measure,  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  larger  quantities,  is  but  a  rough  and  uncertain 
method,  which  is  only  to  be  relied  on  when  the  average  is  taken 
of  many  such  trials.  The  irregularity  of  the  lumps  of  marl,  when 
first  dug,  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  degree  of  heaping  of  the 
measure,  may  make  even  the  same  kind  and  condition  of  marl 
appear  to  vary  in  quantity  and  weight,  by  6  or  8  pounds  in  the 
bushel.  Besides  other  smaller  trials,  at  other  times,  I  made  the 
following  measurements  and  weighings  of  a  single  load  of  marl,  of 
which  the  report  may  be  of  use  for  comparison  : — 

A  load  of  marl,  just  dug,  was  thrown  into  the  cart,  as  usual,  by 
shovels.  The  heaping  of  the  load  rose  7  inches,  in  the  middle, 
above  the  top  of  the  cart  body.  (Lumpy  and  moist  marl  may  be 
heaped  much  higher  than  dry  and  pulverized.)  This  was  about 
the  ordinary  degree  of  heaping,  when  the  roads  were  in  the  firmest 
state.  The  load  was  drawn  to  my  barn,  2000  yards  of  the  route  to 
the  field,  and  there  measured  by  the  half-bushel,  heaped,  and  each 
separate  measure  weighed.  The  weights  varied  from  49  to  56 £ 
lbs.  of  the  39  half-bushel  measures  (19*  bushels)  which  the  load 
filled.  The  whole  load  weighed  2050  lbs.,  and  the  average  weight 
of  the  heaped  bushel  was  105.16  lbs.  This  marl  was  of  the  kind  I 
have  altogether  used  at  Marlbourne  [to  1850]— compact  clayey 
marl,  partly  in  lumps,  moist  naturally  in  its  bed,  but  free  from  any 
other  water. 

The  inside  dimensions  of  this  two-mule  cart  body  were  these  : 
Average  of  length,  inches,         60.87 
"  width,       "  40 

"  depth,       «  15.16; 

which  make  21.36  cubic  feet,  or  17.12  even  bushels  of  capacity. 
(A  bushel  contains  2150.6  cubic  inches.)  But,  it  should  be  ob- 
served, that  the  compression  of  the  marl  by  its  own  weight,  as 
thrown  into  the  cart,  and  still  more  by  the  settling  during  the  tra- 
vel to  the  field,  permits  and  causes  more  bushels  of  marl  (if  pre- 
viously measured)  to  be  put  into  the  body  than  would  be  indicated 
by  its  cubic  capacity.  Thus,  into  the  cart  described  above,  at  an- 
other time,  the  marl  was  put  in  at  the  pit  by  a  half-bushel  measure, 
heaped  as  usual — and  which  heaping  certainly  added  as  much  as 
26 


302  MARLING    ESTIMATES. 

20  per  cent,  to  tlie  even  measure.  Yet  16  bushels  (the  measure 
being  thus  heaped),  were  required  to  fill  the  cart  even.  (If  thrown 
in,  as  usual,  by  shovels,  still  more  marl  would  have  been  put  into 
the  same  space,  by  its  falling  more  heavily  from  the  shovels  than 
from  the  half-bushel.)  Upon  this  even  filling  of  the  cart  (the  16 
heaped  bushels),  more  marl  was  added,  to  the  amount  of  5  bushels 
of  like  heaping  measurement,  making  21  heaped  bushels  in  all. 
This  raised  the  heaping  of  the  cart  higher  than  usual,  though  not 
too  much  to  be  carried  without  waste.  After  being  driven  to  the 
field,  rather  more  than  1J  miles,  the  then  heaping  part  of  the  load 
alone  was  carefully  taken  off,  and  measured  by  even  half-bushels; 
but  each  filling  being  pressed  into  the  measure  moderately,  which 
was  supposed  to  give  a  degree  of  compactness  equal  to  the  remain- 
ing lower  part  of  the  load,  caused  by  its  weight  and  the  travel. 
This  quantity  made  3  J  of  such  even  bushels;  the  difference  be- 
tween which  and  the  5  heaped  bushels  put  on  in  heaping  at  the 
pit,  was  owing  to  the  settling  of  the  whole  load  by  its  weight  and 
the  travel. 

The  remaining  even  and  compressed  filling  of  the  cart  body,  by 
cubic  measurement  of  its  capacity,  as  stated  above,  was  (21.36 
cubic  feet,  or)  17.12  even  bushels.  Add  to  this  the  3£  even  and 
compressed  bushels  of  the  heaping  (after  its  being  settled  by  the 
travel ),  and  the  quantity  of  the  whole  load  is  (17.12 — 3.50=  2 
compressed  and  even  bushels,  equal  to  21.  loose  and  heaped,  as 
measured  at  the  loading.  Therefore  it  may  be  considered  that  a 
heaped  bushel  of  loose  and  moist  marl  is  about  equal,  when  com- 
pressed, to  the  same  measure  even  full. 

From  all  these  and  other  trials  and  observations,  combined  and 
compared,  I  consider  the  following  quantities  as  sufficiently  close 
approximations  to  the  truth  : — 

A  heaped  bushel  of  this  and  similar  marl,  loose,  as  dug,  weighs 
105.16  lbs. 

An  even  bushel,  compressed,  weighs  about  the  same. 

The  load  of  a  proper  two-mule  cart,  for  roads  in  good  order  and 
over  firm  land  not  varvincr  much  from  level,  is  18  to  19  heaped 
bushels— or  1900  to  2000  lbs. 

Weight  of  a  cubic  foot  of  this  marl,  in  the  bed,  is  120  J  lbs. 
(determined  by  trial  of  a  smaller  measured  solid).  By  two  differ- 
ent trials,  of  pits  measured  by  their  cubic  dimensions  in  the  bed, 
one  of  1052  cubic  feet  yielded  1103  heaped  bushels  of  marl,  as  dug, 
and  measured  by  the  estimated  cart-loads ;  and  the  other,  of  1475 
cubic  feet  in  the  bed,  yielded  1675  heaped  bushels.  These  esti- 
mates would  respectively  make  the  cubic  foot  weigh  about  111  and 
119  lbs.  Of  course  these  were  not  exact  measurements,  either  in 
the  bed,  of  feet,  or  in  the  carts,  of  bushels. 

10  cubic  feet  of  marl,  measured  in  the  cart  body,  and  as  coni* 


PROPER  PROCEDURE   FOR   MARLING.  003 

pact  as  made  by  its  own  pressure  and  the  travel,  are  equal  to  8.03 
(say  8)  even  bushels,  in  the  same  state  of  compactness ;  and  may 
be  taken  as  equal  to  the  same  number  (8)  of  heaped  bushels,  loose 
as  when  dug. 

In  marls  of  equal  degrees  of  moisture,  the  weight  will  be  greater 
in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  silicious  sand  in  each;  and,  in  a 
less  degree,  also  to  the  soundness  and  compactness  of  any  shells 
contained.  In  marls  similar  in  these  respects,  of  course  the  weight 
will  be  in  proportion  to  the  wetness.  The  lightest  marl  I  ever 
worked,  which  was  as  dry  as  any  earth  could  naturally  be,  did  not 
weigh  less  than  100  lbs.  to  the  heaped  bushel. 

Some  or  all  the  foregoing  suggestions  of  facilities  and  expedients, 
or  perhaps  some  better  plans,  might  perhaps  occur  to  most  persons 
before  they  are  long  engaged  in  marling.  Still  these  directions 
may  help  to  smooth  away  some  of  the  obstructions  in  the  way  of 
the  inexperienced ;  and  they  will  not  be  entirely  useless,  if  they 
can  serve  to  prevent  even  small  losses  of  time  and  labour. 

It  is  impossible  to  carry  on  marling  to  advantage,  or  with  any- 
thing like  economy,  unless  it  is  made  a  regular  business,  to  be  con- 
tinued throughout  the  year,  or  a  specified  portion  of  it,  by  a  labour- 
ing force  devoted  to  that  purpose,  and  not  allowed  to  be  withdrawn 
for  any  other.  Instead  of  proceeding  on  this  plan,  most  persons 
who  have  begun  to  marl,  attempt  it  in  the  short  intervals  of  leisure 
afforded  between  their  different  farming  operations — and  without 
lessening,  for  this  purpose,  the  extent  of  their  usual  cultivation. 
Let  us  suppose  that  preparations  have  been  made  for  such  an  at- 
tempt, and  on  the  first  opportunity,  a  farmer  commences  marling 
with  zeal  and  spirit.  Every  new  labour,  however,  is  attended  by 
causes  of  difficulty  and  delay ;  and  a  full  share  of  these  will  be 
found  in  the  first  few  days  of  marling.  The  road  is  soft  for  want 
of  previous  use,  and,  if  the  least  wet,  soon  becomes  miry.  The 
horses,  unaccustomed  to  carting,  balk  at  the  hills,  or  carry  only  half 
loads.  Other  difficulties  occur  from  the  awkwardness  of  the  labour- 
ers, and  the  inexperience  of  their  master — and  still  more  from  the 
usual  unwillingness  of  the  overseer  to  devote  any  labour  to  improve- 
ments which  are  not  expected  to  add  to  the  crop  of  that  year. 
Before  matters  can  get  straight,  the  leisure  time  is  at  an  end.  The 
work  is  stopped,  and  the  road  and  pit  are  left  to  get  out  of  order, 
before  makiug  another  attempt  some  six  months  after,  when  all  the 
same  vexatious  difficulties  are  again  to  be  encountered.  It  is  there- 
fore not  at  all  surprising  that  many  zealous  beginners  have  been 
discouraged  by  the  bad  management  of  their  first  operations ;  and 
have  abandoned  all  effort  to  marl,  until  after  years  of  delay,  and 
when  again  induced  to  resume,  by  the  success  and  profit  of  others 
who  had  not  limited  their  marling  labours  to  leisure  times  only. 

If  one  horse  or  mule,  only,  is  employed  in  drawing  marl  through- 


301  SEARCHING   FOR   MARL. 

out  the  year,  at  the  moderate  allowance  of  200  working  days, 
and  100  bushels  carried  out  for  each  day,  the  year's  work  will 
amount  to  20,000  bushels ;  or  enough  for  the  first  dressing  of  80 
acres,  at  250  bushels.  This  alone  would  be  creating  a  great  value, 
and  obtaining  a  great  profit  upon  the  outlay  of  expense.  But,  be- 
sides, this  operation  would  allow  the  profitable  employment  of  any 
amount  of  additional  and  available  force.  When,  at  any  time, 
other  teams  and  labourers  could  be  spared  to  assist,  even  if  but  for 
a  day  or  two,  everything  would  be  ready  for  them  to  go  immedi- 
ately to  work.  The  pit  is  well  drained,  the  road  is  firm,  the  bridges 
in  good  order,  and  the  ground  for  the  marl  marked  off  and  ready 
to  receive  the  loads.  In  this  manner,  much  work  may  be  obtained 
in  the  course  of  the  year,  from  teams  which  would  otherwise  be 
idle,  and  labourers  whose  other  employment  would  be  but  of  little 
importance.  Also  the  spreading  of  marl  on  the  field  is  a  job  that 
will  l)e  always  ready  to  occupy  spare  labour  (unless  the  marl  is 
clayey  and  also  very  wet) ;  and  the  removing  of  earth  to  uncover 
marl  may  be  done  when  rain,  snow,  or  severe  freezing  weather  has 
rendered  the  earth  unfit  for  almost  every  other  kind  of  work. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  THE  SEARCHING  FOR  AND  TESTING  OF  MARL. 

In  the  order  of  time  and  of  operations,  the  searching  for  marl, 
when  required  for  any  one  locality,  must  precede  the  labours  di- 
rected or  described  in  the  foregoing  chapter.  Nevertheless,  the 
reverse  order  will  be  better  for  the  clear  understanding  of  directions 
by  those  persons  who  are  without  any  experience  in  this  business.  To 
know  how  best  to  search  for  marl,  it  is  essential  to  know  the  gene- 
ral position,  and  other  characters  of  the  beds ;  and  the  necessary 
lights  on  these  points  were  given  in  the  preceding  chapter  as  the 
most  suitable  place. 

It  is  not  only  on  farms,  or  in  larger  spaces,  where  no  marl  has 
been  seen,  that  the  search  for  it  may  be  necessary.  On  large  farms 
where  it  is  most  abundant,  and  easily  accessible,  in  some  places,  it 
is  usually  very  important  to  trace  the  bed  to  some  other  place, 
where  the  working  will  be  more  useful  or  convenient.  The  being 
thus  enabled  to  bring  the  excavations  a  few  hundred  yards  nearer 
to  the  fields  may  save  twice  as  niany  hundred  dollars  in  the  expense 
of  carting  the  marl  within  one  or  two  years. 

The  farmer  who  has  seen  (and  still  better  if  he  has  worked) 
marl  in  some  one  spot  of  his  land,  or  his  neighbourhood,  has  thereby 


»      SEARCHING   FOR   MARL.  305 

obtained  the  best  possible  indications  of  the  probable  existence  of 
the  same  bed  in  a  more  desirable  situation.  As  the  beds  usually 
lie  nearly  horizontal,  and  are  continuous  for  considerable  distances, 
the  search  should  be  extended  upon  nearly  the  same  level.  Natural 
exposures  may  have  been  made  by  the  courses  of  rivers  or  smaller 
streams — or  artificial,  by  the  digging  of  ditches,  wells,  or  other 
excavations.  If  none  of  these  serve  to  expose  marl  to  view,  the 
next  resort  will  be  to  boring.  And  in  using  the  auger,  the  same 
rule  should  be  pursued  of  being  guided  by  the  supposed  level  of 
the  bed  sought.  Of  course,  any  nearly  horizontal  lower  bed  will 
have  the  least  covering  of  upper  earth  where  the  surface  is  most  de- 
pressed. Thus,  under  swamps,  or  in  deep  bottoms  or  ravines,  a  hidden 
bed  of  marl  may  be  expected  to  be  reached  with  less  depth  of  boring 
than  on  the  higher  laud.  But  it  will  not  do  to  rely  upon  borings 
in  these  lowest  depressions  only.  For  in  many  cases,  the  marl 
itself,  or  the  upper  part  of  the  bed,  has  been  washed  away  and  re- 
moved by  the  ancient  action  of  running  water,  and  the  cavity  sub- 
sequently filled  by  other  washings  of  earth,  forming  the  present 
surface  soil  and  lower  layers.  Therefore,  besides  boring  in  the 
lowest  ground,  the  nearest  rise  of  the  adjacent  slope  of  high  land 
should  be  tried.  There  the  marl  would  have  been  left,  even  though 
removed  in  the  former  lower  channel  of  the  ancient  strong  current 
of  water. 

If  marl  reaches  the  surface,  or  is  cut  into  anywhere  by  the  wash- 
ing of  rapid  streams,  it  may  probably  be  found  by  examining  the 
deepest  parts  of  these  cuttings.  Any  of  the  smallest  particles  of 
shells  found  in  the  lower  part  of  the  course  of  the  stream  will 
clearly  indicate  that  the  water  has  cut  into  marl  somewhere  above; 
and  which  place  may  be  found  by  carefully  examining  the  bed  of 
the  stream  above. 

The  auger  most  convenient  for  the  ordinary  searching  for  marl 
is  a  very  simple  and  cheap  implement.  It  is  made  by  welding  a 
straight  cylindrical  iron  rod,  five-eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
to  the  stem  of  a  common  screw  auger  of  about  one  and  a  half 
inches  bore.  If  the  auger  has  been  so  much  worn  in  use  as  a  car- 
penter's tool,  as  to  be  unfit  for  that  work,  it  will  serve  well  enough 
for  boring  in  earth.  A  cross-piece  for  a  handle,  also  of  iron,  and 
14  inches  long,  should  be  fitted  to  slide  along  the  stem  (which 
passes  through  a  hole  in  the  handle),  and  small  indentations  are 
made,  two  feet  apart,  on  the  stem,  at  which  the  handle  is  fixed,  at 
any  desired  height,  by  a  small  thumb-screw,  passing  through  one 
side  of  the  handle,  and  the  point  pressing  into  the  indentation  on 
the  stem.  The  lowest  indentation  should  be  4  feet  from  the  lower 
end  of  the  auger,  and  the  others  at  every  2  feet  above.  An 
auger  of  12  feet  length  will  serve  for  all  ordinary  operations, 
and  is  not  too  unhandy  in  use.  But,  it  will  be  more  convenient, 
2G* 


306  BORIXG   FOR   MARL. 

if  much  boring  is  to  be  done,  to  have  two  auger?,  of  equal  bore 
(or  the  short  one  something  the  larger),  one  of  8  feet  length,  and 
the  other  14.  The  shorter  will  be  used  first,  and  the  longer  only 
when  more  than  the  depth  of  8  feet  is  required.  The  auger  is  not 
only  useful  to  find  the  upper  surface  of  the  bed  of  marl,  but  also 
to  pierce  the  bed  deeply  enough  to  know  whether  it  is  thick  and 
rich  enough  to  be  worth  the  labour  of  uncovering  and  excavating. 
Not  more  than  about  6  inches  depth  should  be  bored  at  one  time, 
when  the  auger  should  be  drawn  up,  and  the  cutting  part  cleared 
of  the  adhering  earth.  If  more  boring  is  done  at  once  than  the 
auger  can  lift  completely,  the  bored  hole  is  soon  obstructed  by 
loose  earth,  and  the  design  of  the  boring  is  impeded  by  the  greater 
haste  of  the  labour. 

It  is  seldom  that  the  shorter  length  of  8  feet  will  not  be  enough 
for  these  uses  of  a  marl  auger ;  and  the  greater  length  of  12,  or 
at  most  14  feet,  will  be  ample.  But,  if  for  peculiar  circumstances, 
greater  depth  is  required,  additional  pieces,  of  4  feet  each,  may  be 
attached  to  and  so  lengthen  the  stem  of  the  auger.  The  working 
of  so  long  an  auger  is  excessively  inconvenient,  when  it  has  to  be 
drawn  up  so  frequently. 

For  the  suggestion  of  this  very  useful  tool,  I  was  indebted  to 
Dr.  William  J.  Cocke,  who  first  introduced  it ;  and  who,  by  its  aid, 
was  enabled  to  find  and  to  use  extensively  a  very  valuable  bed  of 
marl  under  the  low  and  level  surface  of  his  land  (on  Blackwater, 
in  Sussex),  where  its  presence  had  not  been  reached  or  suspected 
before. 

When  it  is  desired  to  use  an  auger  longer  than  14  feet,  by  at- 
taching one  or  more  extra  joints,  the  great  inconvenience  of  lifting 
and  returning  the  auger  may  be  much  lessened  by  a  simple  con- 
trivance introduced  by  Mr.  Williams  Carter,  of  Hanover.  This  is 
to  have  a  bench  of  narrow  and  thin  plank,  7  or  8  feet  long,  with 
legs  of  8  or  10  feet.  A  hole  large  enough  for  the  auger  to  turn 
in  freely  is  in  the  middle  of  the  bench.  As  soon  as  it  is  necessary 
to  attach  another  piece  to  the  stem  of  the  auger,  the  bench  is  set 
over  the  boring,  with  the  hole  immediately  above,  through  which 
the  stem  is  passed.  Thus,  when  the  auger  is  lifted,  it  is  supported 
in  its  perpendicular  position  by  the  bench  above. 

Such  means  as  these,  imperfect  as  they  are,  will  be  found  more 
convenient  and  effective  in  use,  and  much  cheaper,  than  the  heavy 
and  complicated  augers  used  to  search  for  coal. 

When  I  first  began  to  apply  marl,  in  Prince  George  county,  it  had 
attracted  so  little  observation,  even  as  a  matter  of  curiosity  or  singu- 
larity, that  the  deposit  was  supposed  by  the  few  observers  to  be 
limited  to  the  few  places  where  it  was  both  exposed  and  also  mani- 
fest to  the  eye.  These  places  were  indeed  very  few  in  Lower  Vir- 
ginia.    For  not  only  was  the  natural  exposure  of  a  section  of  the 


POSITION   OP   MARL  BEDS.  307 

bed  required,  but  also  that  the  fossil  shells  should  be  sufficiently 
preserved  to  be  recognised  as  such  at  a  glance.  The  most  nume- 
rous, most  extensive,  and  also  the  richest  beds,  exposed  to  the  eye, 
iu  some  of  the  steep  and  broken  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  which  are 
now  known  to  the  most  ignorant  labourer  as  marl,  were  then  not 
distinguished  from  other  earth,  because  the  shelly  matter  was  so 
reduced  as  not  to  be  obvious  to  view. 

But  as  soon  as  the  value  of  these  beds  was  made  known,  disco- 
veries or  observations  of  their  presence  and  accessibility  were  rapidly 
extended.  And  in  advance  of  all  scientific  instruction  (from  which 
the  general  extension  of  any  such  formations  might  have  been  in- 
ferred), marl  had  been  found  on  thousands  of  farms,  where  its  pre- 
sence had  not  been  known  or  thought  of,  previous  to  my  earliest 
publication  on  this  subject.  Even  in  Prince  George,  and  after  the 
highest  interest  had  been  excited  on  this  subject,  for  some  years 
the  only  known  exposures  of  marl  were  in  either  the  cliffs,  or  the 
neighbouring  sloping  borders  of  James  River,  and  in  the  ravines 
of  the  hilly  lands  of  some  streams  emptying  therein.  Since,  besides 
other  places,  under  all  or  nearly  all  the  level  swampy  borders  of 
the  Blackwater  and  its  many  branches,  marl  has  been  found,  at  no 
great  depth,  though  concealed  from  view ;  and  numerous  extensive 
excavations  have  been  made,  and  for  great  improvements.  New 
discoveries  of  marl  are  still  continually  made  in  localities  where  it 
was  not  before  known.  There  can  be  little  question  of  the  general 
fact  that  marl  underlies  nearly  all  the  lands  between  the  sea  coast 
and  the  falls  of  the  rivers,  and  stretching  from  Maryland  to  Florida] 
and  increasing  in  thickness,  and  generally  in  richness  also,  as  pro- 
ceeding southward.  In  Virginia,  the  workable  thickness  of  marl 
is  not  often  more  than  12  feet ;  and  if  in  some  cases  as  much  as 
25  feet,  it  is  much  oftener  less  than  8  feet.  In  South  Carolina, 
I  ascertained  the  extensive  bed  of  very  rich  marl  to  be  more  than 
300  feet  in  thickness. 

But  generally  extended  as  are  the  marl  deposits  through  lower 
Virginia,  the  overlying  earth  is  most  generally  too  thick  for  the 
economical  working  of  the  marl  below.  Under  most  lands,  the 
marl  is  more  than  thirty  feet  below  the  surface ;  and  even  if  reached 
by  digging,  would  be  covered  by  spring-water,  so  as  greatly  to  in- 
crease the  difficulty  and  expense  of  obtaining  it  from  such  depths. 
"Will  these  obstacles  always  debar  the  proprietors  from  the  benefit 
of  this  treasure,  through  more  than  half  the  great  region  under 
which  it  lies,  now  useless  and  concealed?  I  think  not.  Though 
it  would  be  ridiculous  now  to  propose  such  undertakings,  it  will 
at  some  future  time  be  found  profitable  to  descend  to  still  greater 
depths  for  good  marl ;  and  shafts  will  be  sunk,  and  the  water  and 
the  marl  will  both  be  drawn  up  by  machinery  worked  by  horse- 
power or  steam  engines,  and  the  excavations  conducted  in  the  same 


SOS  DEEP-LYIXG    MARL. 

manner  as  is  now  done  in  coal  mines.  "When  such  means  shall  be 
resorted  to,  it  is  probable  that  there  will  be  but  a  small  proportion 
of  all  the  great  tide-water  region  (or  the  region  lying  eastward  of 
the  granite  range),  in  which  marl  may  not  be  found  sufficiently 
accessible  for  profitable  use.  For  example  :  from  a  mile  south  of 
Petersburg,  along  the  line  of  the  railway  to  the  Roanoke,  no  marl 
had  been  found  either  by  the  excavations  for  the  road,  or  in  the 
much  deeper  wells  dug  long  before  in  the  vicinity  of  the  route. 
The  well  for  the  water-station  nine  miles  from  Petersburg  did  not 
at  all  times  supply  enough  water  for  the  engines,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  dig  one  deep  enough  for  that  purpose.  Disregarding  the 
small  veins  of  water  usually  reached  at  less  than  20  feet,  the 
digging  was  sunk  to  50  feet,  when  marl  was  reached.  Its  quality 
at  top  was  rather  poor ;  but  it  became  more  and  more  rich,  as  well 
as  of  firmer  consistence  (though  never  very  hard),  until  the  well 
had  been  sunk  to  80  feet,  without  reaching  the  bottom  of  the 
marl,  or  finding  any  other  vein  of  water.  The  lower  part  of  this 
marl  was  from  eighty  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime,  as  I 
found  by  several  analyses.  It  would  have  served  to  make  good 
lime,  by  burning,  for  cement  or  for  manure,  to  be  transported  to 
a  distance  on  the  railway ;  besides  being  of  more  value  to  be  used 
unprepared  to  enrich  the  nearer  land.  Though  covered  by  fifty 
feet  of  earth,  and  the  excavation  impeded  by  the  water  from  above, 
this  marl  might  have  been  profitably  raised  eighty  feet,  or  as  much 
lower  as  the  bed  may  extend.  And  so  firm  was  its  texture,  that 
the  excavation  might  have  been  safely  enlarged  gradually  as  it  was 
deepened,  as  is  done  in  the  chalk-pits  of  England,  so  that  the 
digging  should  form  a  hollow  cone,  communicating  from  its  apex 
by  the  narrower  cylindrical  well  through  the  fifty  feet  of  earth 
above  to  the  surface.  Thus,  though  the  earth  might  have  been 
twice  the  thickness  of  the  marl  below,  the  greater  diameter  of  ex- 
cavation in  the  latter  would  have  furnished  much  the  greater  quan- 
tity of  contents.  Of  this  most  valuable  deposit,  found  in  a  region 
before  supposed  destitute,  and  where  its  transportation  to  a  long 
line  of  destitute  laud  was  so  convenient,  no  use  has  been  made, 
except  of  the  quantity  necessarily  drawn  up  in  digging  this  well. 
And  this  means  for  enriching  the  undertaker,  and  fertilizing  a  vast 
extent  of  surface  of  acid  and  poor  land,  will  probably  remain  totally 
neglected  for  the  next  fifty  years.  It  is  most  probable  that  this 
same  thick  and  rich  body  of  marl  may  be  found  at  many  miles' 
distance  on  the  line  of  railroad,  and  indeed  wherever  the  surface 
is  in  the  same  position  relative  to  the  granite  range.   (184*2.) 

After  marl  has  been  found,  whether  by  natural  exposure  or  by 
boring,  it  may  still  be  difficult  to  distinguish  it  by  the  eye.  If 
fossil  sea-shells  are  intermixed,  and  enough  preserved  in  form  to  be 
distinguishable,  that  is  certain  proof  that  the  object  sought  has 


MARLS   NOT   DISTINGUISHABLE  BY   SIGHT.  309 

been  found.  But  sometimes,  and  more  usually  in  the  richest  marls, 
the  shells  are  so  reduced  as  to  be  searcely  (if  at  all)  distinguishable, 
and  the  mass  may  appear  to  the  eye  either  as  a  barren  sand  or  as 
barren  clay  sub-soil,  according  to  its  mechanical  texture,  of  no 
worth  or  interest  whatever.  The  touch  of  muriatic,  or  other  strong 
avid,  to  the  earth,  first  moistened  by  water,  is  the  ouly  sure  test. 
If  there  is  shelly  matter  (or  carbonate  of  lime)  present,  the  acid 
will  produce  immediate  effervescence  and  discharge  of  carbonic  acid 
gas.  If  there  is  no  such  action,  the  earth  is  not  calcareous,  and 
of  no  value  as  marl  (or  for  mixing) }  whatever  it  may  contain  of 
other  fertilizing  ingredients. 

More  than  a  hundred  species  of  sea-shells  are  found  in  the 
bods  of  marl  which  I  have  worked.  Generally  the  shells, 
though  very  fragile,  are  entire,  though  much  broken  by  the  dig- 
ging and  after-operations.  The  white  shells  are  rapidly  reduced, 
after  being  mixed  with  an  acid  soil;  but  some  gray  kinds,  as 
the  scallop  (jpecteri)  and  the  oyster,  are  so  hard  as  to  be  very  long 
before  they  can  act  as  manure.  Some  beds,  and  they  are  gene- 
rally the  richest,  have  scarcely  any  whole  shells,  but  are  formed 
principally  of  small  broken  fragments.  Of  course  the  value 
of  marl  as  a  manure  depends  in  some  measure  on  which  kinds 
of  shells  are  most  numerous,  and  their  state  of*  division,  as 
well  as  upon  the  total  amount  of  the  calcareous  earth  contained. 
The  last  is,  however,  by  far  the  most  important  criterion  of 
value.  The  most  experienced  eye  may  be  much  deceived  in  the 
strength  of  marl ;  aud  still  more  gross  and  dangerous  errors 
would  be  made  by  an  inexperienced  marler.  The  strength  of  a 
body  of  marl  often  changes  materially  in  sinking  a  foot  in  depth — 
although  the  same  changes  may  be  expected  to  occur  very  regu- 
larly, in  every  pit  sunk  through  the  same  bed.  The  annexed 
figure  will  serve  better  to  illustrate  both  these  changes  in  perpen- 
dicular extension  in  a  marl-bed;  and  the  regularity  of  quality  in 
horizontal  extension. 


Such  as  this  is  no  uncommon  character  of  a  bed  of  marl,  and 
such  I  have  worked,  and  could  recognise  the  identity  of  the 
several  layers,  by  their  appearance,  in  different  diggings,  half  a 
mile  or  more  apart.     Thus,  suppose  the  two  ends  of  the  section 


310  APPEARANCE   AND   TESTING    OF   MARL. 

to  be  at  such  considerable  distance.  The  upper  layer,  a  (say, 
for  example,  finely-rubbed-down  fragments  of  shells,  making  55 
per  cent,  of  the  layer),  may  be  6  feet  thick  at  one  part,  and  only  1 
foot  or  less  at  the  other.  The  next  layer,  b  (indurated  or  stony,  85 
per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime),  may  vary  at  the  same  two  distant 
places  from  1  foot  to  3.  The  next,  c  (sandy  and  fine,  20  per 
cent,),  is  4  feet  in  one  digging,  and  runs  out  to  nothing  before 
reaching  the  other.  The  next,  d  (firm,  with  entire  shells,  40  per 
cent.),  is  7  feet  in  the  one  and  but  3  in  the  other  place.  Now  it 
would  require  a  careful  analysis  of  each  of  these  layers  of  ditfercnt 
qualities,  and  observation  of  their  comparative  thickness,  to  know 
the  average  strength  of  the  whole  section  of  marl  at  one  excava- 
tion. But  these  same  observations  would  usually  serve  for  estimat- 
ing nearly  enough  the  averages  of  the  like  layers  whenever  they 
were  found  and  identified,  by  allowing  for  the  changes  in  thickness 
of  each  layer. 

Whoever  uses  marl  ought  to  know  how  to  analyze  it,  which 
a  little  care  will  enable  any  one  to  do  with  sufficient  accuracy. 
The  method  described,  at  page  56,  for  ascertaining  the  propor- 
tions of  calcareous  earth  in  soils,  will  of  course  serve  for  the 
same  purpose  with  marl.  But  as  more  particular  and  minute 
directions  may  be  necessary  for  many  persons  who  will  use  this 
manure,  and  who  ought  to  be  able  to  judge  of  its  value,  such 
directions  will  be  here  given,  and  which  any  one  can  follow, 
by  merely  applying  sufficient  attention  and  care.  To  perform 
this  process  will  require  no  other  chemical  tests  than  muriatic 
acid  and  carbonate  of  potash,  and  no  apparatus,  except  correct 
scales  and  weights,  a  glass  funnel,  and  some  blotting  or  very  porous 
printing  paper — all  of  which  may  be  bought  at  any  apothecary's 
shop. 

Directions  for  analyzing  Marl  by  solution  and  precipitation. 

1st.  Take  a  lump  of  marl,  fossil  shells,  &c,  large  enough 
to  furnish  a  fair  sample  of  the  particular  body  under  considera- 
tion— dry  it  perfectly  near  the  fire — pound  the  whole  to  a  coarse 
powder  (in  a  metal  mortar),  and  mix  the  whole  together. 
Take  from  the  mixture  a  small  sample,  which  reduce  to  a  fiuely- 
divided  state,  and  weigh  of  it  a  certain  portion,  say  50  grains,  for 
trial. 

2d.  To  this  known  quantity,  in  a  glass,  pour  slowly  and  at  dif- 
ferent times  muriatic  acid  diluted  with  three  or  four  times  its  bulk 
of  water  (any  except  lime-stone,  or  hard  water.)  The  acid  will 
dissolve  all  the  lime  in  the  calcareous  earth,  and  let  loose  the  car- 
bonic acid,  with  which  it  was  previously  combined,  in  the  form  of 
gas,  or  air,  which  causes  the  effervescence,  which  so  plainly  marks 


ANALYZING   OP   MARL.  311 

the  progress  of  such  solution.  The  addition  of  the  muriatic  acid 
must  be  continued  as  long  as  it  produces  effervescence ;  and  but 
very  little  after  that  effect  has  ceased.  The  mixture  should  be 
■well  and  often  stirred,  and  should  have  enough  excess  of  acid  to  bo 
sour  after  standing  thirty  or  forty  minutes.  (So  much  of  the  acid 
as  the  lime  combines  with  loses  its  sour  taste,  as  well  as  its  other 
peculiar  qualities.) 

The  mixture  now  consists  of:  1,  the  lime  combined  chemically 
with  muriatic  acid,  forming  muriate  of  lime,  which  is  a  salt,  and 
which  is  dissolved  in  the  water ;  2,  a  small  excess  of  muriatic  acid 
mixed  with  the  fluid;  and  3,  the  sand,  clay,  and  any  other  insolu- 
ble parts  of  the  sample  of  marl.  To  separate  the  solid  from  the 
fluid  and  soluble  parts  is  the  next  step  required. 

3d.  Take  a  piece  of  filtering  or  blotting  paper,  about  six  or  eight 
inches  square  (some  spongy  and  unsized  newspapers  serve  well), 
fold  it  so  as  to  fit  within  a  glass  funnel,  which  will  act  better  if  its 
inner  surface  is  fluted.  Pour  water  first  into  the  filter,  so  as  to  see 
whether  it  is  free  from  any  hole  or  defect ;  if  the  filtering  paper 
operates  well,  throw  out  the  water,  and  pour  into  it  the  whole 
mixture.  The  fluid  will  slowly  pass  through  into  a  glass  under  the 
funnel,  leaving  on  the  filter  all  the  solid  parts,  on  which  water  must 
be  poured  once  or  twice,  so  as  to  wash  out  and  convey  to  the  solu- 
tion every  remaining  particle  of  the  dissolved  lime. 

4th.  The  solid  matter  left,  after  being  thus  washed,  must  be 
taken  out  of  the  funnel  on  the  paper,  and  carefully  and  thoroughly 
dried — then  scraped  off  the  paper  and  weighed.  The  weight,  say 
27  grains,  being  deducted  from  the  original  quantity,  50,  would 
make  the  part  dissolved  (50 — 27  =23)  -46  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 
And  such  may  be  taken  as  very  nearly  the  proportion  of  calcareous 
earth  (or  carbonate  of  lime)  in  the  earth  examined.  But  as  there 
will  necessarily  be  some  loss  in  the  process,  and  every  grain  taken 
from  the  solid  parts  appears  in  the  result  as  a  grain  added  to  the 
carbonate  of  lime,  it  will  be  right  in  such  partial  trials  to  allow 
about  two  per  cent,  for  loss,  which  allowance  will  reduce  the  fore- 
going statement  to  44  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. 

5th.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  rely  altogether  on  the  estimate 
obtained  by  subtraction,  as  it  may  be  proved  by  comparison  with 
the  next  step  of  the  process.  Into  the  solution  (and  the  washings) 
which  passed  through  the  filter,  pour  gradually  a  solution  of  car- 
bonate of  potash.  The  first  effect  of  the  alkaline  substance,  thus 
added,  will  be  to  take  up  any  excess  of  muriatic  acid  in  the  fluid; — 
and  next,  to  precipitate  the  lime  (now  converted  again  to  carbonate 
of  lime),  in  a  thick  curd-like  form.  When  the  precipitation  is 
ended,  and  the  fluid  retains  a  strong  taste  of  the  carbonate  of 
potash  (showing  it  to  remain  in  excess),  the  whole  must  be  poured 
on   another  filtering  paper,  and  (as  before)  the  solid  matter  left 


812  ANALYZING   OF    MABL. 

thereon  repeatedly  washed  by  pouring  on  water,  then  dried,  scraped 
off,  and  weighed.  This  will  be  the  actual  proportion  of  the  calca- 
reous  part  of  the  sample,  except,  perhaps,  a  loss  of  one  or  two 
grains  in  the  hundred.  The  loss,  therefore,  in  this  part  of  the  pro- 
cess apparently  lessens,  as  the  loss  in  the  earlier  part  increases  the 
statement  of  the  strength  of  the  manure.  The  whole  may  be  sup- 
posed to  stand  then  : 

27  grains  of  sand  and  clay  ")  • 

21       "      of  carbonate  of  lime  v  =  50. 

2      »      of  loss  ) 

If  the  loss  be  divided  between  the  carbonate  of  lime  and  the  other 
worthless  parts  of  the  manure,  it  will  make  the  proportion  28  and 
22,  which  will  be  probably  near  the  actual  proportions. 

The  foregoing  method  is  not  the  most  exact,  but  is  sufficiently  so 
for  practical  use.  All  the  errors  to  which  it  is  liable  will  not  much 
affect  the  reported  result — unless  magnesia  is  present,  and  that  is 
not  often  in  manures  of  this  nature.  I  have  never  found  carbo- 
nate of  magnesia  in  any  of  the  deposits  of  fossil  shells  in  Virginia, 
though  it  was  in  many  cases  sought  for.*  If,  however,  any  consi- 
derable proportion  of  carbonate  of  magnesia  should  ever  be  present 
in  marl  tried  by  the  foregoing  method,  it  may  be  suspected  by  the 
effervescence  being  very  slow  compared  to  that  of  carbonate  of 
lime  alone ;  and  the  proportions  of  these  two  earths  may  be  ascer- 
tained as  follows  :  The  magnesia  as  well  as  the  lime  would  be  dis- 
solved by  the  muriatic  acid  (applied  as  above  directed),  but  the 
magnesia  would  not  be  precipitated  with  the  carbonate  of  lime,  but 
would  remain  dissolved  in  the  alkaline  solution,  last  separated  by 
filtering.  If  this  liquor  is  poured  into  a  Florence  flask  and  boiled 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  carbonate  of  magnesia  will  fall  to  the 
bottom,  and  may  then  be  separated  by  filtering  and  washing,  and 
its  quantity  ascertained  by  being  dried  and  weighed. — (Davy.) 
This  part  of  the  process  may  be  added  to  the  foregoing,  but  it  will 
very  rarely  be  required. 

If  desired,  the  proportions  of  sand  and  clay  (besides  the  calcare- 
ous parts  of  each)  may  be  ascertained  with  enough  truth  for  prac- 
tical purposes,  by  stirring  well  the  remaining  solid  matter  in  a 

*  Carbonate  of  magnesia  is  known  to  me  only  in  one  case.  This  is  of  a 
peculiar  compound  of  carbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia  with  other  common 
earths,  found  on  Bear  Creek  Jsland  in  Hanover  county,  above  the  falls  of 
Pamunkey.  I  have  seen  it  only  in  a  specimen  sent  to  me  fifteen  years  ago, 
aud  of  which  analyses  were  made  both  by  Prof.  W.  B.  Rogers  and  myself, 
in  different  modes,  with  like  results.  I  presume  this  earth  must  have  been 
found  in  very  small  quantity,  as  I  have  never  heard  of  its  being  used  as 
manure,  nor  indeed  anything  else  about  it. 

Prof.  C.  U.  Shepherd  reports  magnesia  found  by  him  in  some  of  the  rich 
eocene  marls  of  South  Carolina.  I  had  before  sought  for  it  in  vain,  in  many 
other  specimens  of  the  same  general  kind  of  marl. 


ANALYZING   OF   MARL.  313 

glass  of  water,  and,  after  letting  it  stand  a  minute,  for  the  sand  to 
subside,  pouring  off  the  fluid,  with  the  lighter  and  still  floating  clay, 
into  another  glass.     The  sand   will  be  left,  and  the  clay  will  be  • 
poured  off  with  the  water;  and  each  may  be  collected  on  filtering 
paper,  dried,  and  weighed  separately. 

The  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  marl  may  also  be  conve- 
niently and  correctly  determined  by  the  diminution  of  weight  from 
the  escape  of  the  carbonic  acid;  the  quantity  of  which  is  always 
in  an  invariable  proportion  to  the  lime  with  which  it  is  combined. 
For  this  purpose,  weigh  (in  a  thin  and  open-mouth  vial)  a  certain 
quantity  (say  200  grains)  of  muriatic  acid.  Then  of  well  dried 
and  powdered  marl,  weigh  half  as  much  (100  grains),  and  then  add 
the  weighed  marl,  very  slowly  and  gradually,  to  the  acid.  After 
all  effervescence  has  ceased,  the  whole  will  fall  short  of  the  original 
weights  (300  grains),  by  that  of  the  carbonic  acid  evolved.  This 
bears  the  fixed  proportion  (very  nearly)  to  the  carbonate  of  lime, 
of  45  parts  in  the  100.  Therefore  for  every  4.5  grains  weight 
lost,  estimate  10  grains  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  marl  tried. — 
(Davy.) 

For  want  of  attention  to  the  only  safe  guide,  the  chemical  analy-  \ 
sis  of  marl,  gross  errors  are  often  committed,  and  losses  continually 
sustained.  By  relying  on  the  eye  only,  I  have  known  marl,  or 
rather  a  calcareous  sand,  to  be  rejected  as  worthless,  and  thrown 
off  at  considerable  cost  of  labour,  to  uncover  worse  marl  below,  in 
which  whole  shells  were  visible ;  and  on  the  contrary,  earth  has 
been  taken  for  marl,  and  used  as  such,  which  had  no  calcareous 
ingredient  whatever.  The  best  marls  for  profitable  use  are  gene- 
rally such  as  show  the  fewest  whole  shells,  or  even  large  fragments, 
and  would  be  passed  by  unnoticed  in  some  cases,  or  considered 
only  as  barren  sand,  or  equally  worthless  clay.  But  even  if  such 
mistakes  as  these  are  avoided,  every  farmer  using  marl,  without 
analyzing  specimens  frequently  and  accurately,  will  incur  much  loss 
by  applying  it  in  quantities  cither  too  great  or  too  small. 

Distant  transportation  of  Marl. 

An  interesting  question  respecting  the  expense  of  this  improve- 
ment is,  to  what  distance  from  the  pit  may  marl  be  profitably 
carried?  If  the  amount  of  labour  necessary  to  carry  it  halt 
a  mile  is  known,  it  is  easy  to  calculate  how  much  more  will  bo 
required  for  two  or  three  miles.  The  cost  of  teams  and  drivers  is 
in  proportion  to  the  distance  travelled;  but  the  pit  and  field  labours 
are  not  affected  by  that  circumstance.  At  present,  when  so  much 
poor  land,  abundantly  supplied  with  fossil  shells,  may  be  bought  at 
from  two  dollars  to  four  dollars  the  acre,  perhaps  a  farmer  had  bet- 
ter buy  and  marl  a  new  farm,  than  to  move  marl  even  three  miles 
27 


/ 


31-4  DISTANT  TRANSPORTATION   OF   MARL. 

to  his  land  in  possession.*  But  this  would  be  merely  declining  one 
considerable  profit,  for  tbe  purpose  of  taking  another  much  greater. 
Whenever  the  value  of  marl  shall  be  properly  understood,  and 
our  lands  are  priced  according  to  their  improvement,  or  their  capa- 
bility of  being  improved  from  that  source,  as  must  be  the  case  here- 
after, then  this  choice  of  advantages  •will  no  longer  be  offered. 
Then  rich  marl  will  be  profitably  carted  eight  or  more  miles  from  the 
pits,  and  perhaps  conveyed  by  water  as  far  as  it  may  be  needed.  A 
bushel  of  such  marl  as  the  bed  on  James  river,  described  page  144, 
containing  62  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime,  is  as  rich  in  calca- 
reous earth  alone,  as  a  bushel  of  slaked  lime  will  be  after  it 
becomes  carbonated;  and  the  greater  weight  of  the  first  is  a  less  dis- 
advantage for  water  carriage,  than  the  price  of  the  latter.  Many 
marls,  in  other  places,  are  much  richer  than  this,  and  also  dry,  and 
easy  to  work.  Farmers  on  James  river,  who  have  used  lime  as 
manure  to  great  extent  and  advantage,  might  more  cheaply  have 
moved  rich  marl  forty  miles  by  water,  as  it  would  cost  nothing  but 
the  labour  of  digging  and  transportation.  (1832.) 

Within  the  short  time  that  has  elapsed  since  the  first  publica- 
tion of  the  foregoing  passages  in  the  previous  edition  of  this  essay, 
the  transportation  of  marl  by  water  carriage  has  been  commenced 
on  James  river,  and  has  been  carried  on  with  more  facility  and  at 
less  expense  than  was  anticipated.  The  farmers  who  may  profit  by 
this  new  mode  of  using  marl  will  be  indebted  to  the  enterprise  of 
C.  H.  Minge,  Esq.,  of  Charles  City,  for  having  made  the  first  full 
and  satisfactory  experiment  of  the  business  on  a  large  scale. 
(1835.)  I  induced  this  gentleman  to  undertake  this  operation,  for 
improving  his  farm  in  Charles  City  county  (now  known  as  Sher- 
wood Forest,  and  the  property  and  residence  of  President  Tyler), 
not  only  by  advice,  but  by  offering  to  him  the  gratuitous  use  of  my 
marl  on  Coggins  Point.  His  operations  were  continued  through 
two  years.  His  example  was  subsequently  followed  by  some  other 
farmers  to  less  extent,  and  at  much  greater  cost,  as  they  hired  the 
freighting,  though  obtaining  the  marl  from  me,  in  the  bed,  without 

*  This  statement  of  prices,  though  correct  when  first  published  (in  1832), 
is  no  longer  so.  Some  little  land  may  yet  be  so  low ;  but,  in  general,  the 
prices  of  lands  having  marl  have  already  advanced  from  50  to  100  per  cent, 
within  fifteen  years  (1842).  The  lowest  of  the  above-named  prices  was  much 
above  the  former  minimum  rate.  The  various  tracts  of  land  in  James  City 
county,  belonging  to  Mrs.  Paradise's  large  estate,  when  sold  some  12  or  14 
years  ago,  brought  prices  that  averaged  only  about  $1.25  the  acre.  Most 
of  the  lauds  were  poor,  but  easily  improvable,  and  all  having  plenty  of  rich 
marl.  One  of  the  tracts  of  that  description,  of  800  acres,  was  bought  at 
75  cents  the  acre ;  and  after  being  held  for  three  or  four  years,  without 
being  in  any  respect  improved,  was  re-sold  by  the  purchaser  for  $2.50  the 
acre.  Where  marl  has  been  actually  applied,  the  increased  intrinsic  or 
productive  value  of  the  land  always  considerably  exceeds  the  increased 
market  price,  even  though  the  latter  may  bo  already  doubled  or  tripled. 


WATER-BORNE   MARL.  315 

charge.  Since,  the  business  has  greatly  increased,  and  is  now  car- 
ried on  by  many  flat-bottomed  vessels  (or  lighters,  decked  and 
rigged),  from  other  places  on  James  river,  as  a  regular  and  con- 
tinuous business.  But  still  the  business  is  badly  conducted  in 
general,  and  therefore  is  much  more  costly  than  it  would  be  under 
Better  and  proper  direction.  Farmers  are  averse  to  being  engaged 
in  the  management  of  vessels,  or  any  other  business  away  from 
their  farms,  and  therefore  they  have  always  preferred  to  buy  the 
marl  from  vessels,  even  at  higher  prices,  rather  than  to  have  it  dug 
by  their  own  labourers  and  transported  in  their  own  vessels.  And 
this  division  of  labour  would  be  right  in  all  respects,  if  the  owners 
of  the  river  lighters  were  better  managers  of  their  business,  and 
their  hands  were  industrious  and  sober.  For  rich  marl  thus  ob- 
tained and  transported,  the  prices  at  the  purchasers'  landings  have 
usually  been  from  4  to  5  cents  the  heaped  bushel.  And  at  these 
high  prices,  the  lazy  and  worthless  and  ill  provided  navigators 
have  rarely  realized  any  profit.  The  highest  price  charged  for  marl, 
in  beds  on  the  river  banks,  is  a  half  cent  the  bushel.  Under  ex- 
isting circumstances,  the  cheapest  and  best  mode  of  obtaining 
water-borne  marl  is  for  the  farmer  to  also  carry  on  the  digging  and 
the  navigating.  And  if  the  several  operations  were  properly  con- 
ducted, the  entire  expense  of  water-borne  marl,  say  10  to  30  miles, 
will  rarely  exceed  3  cents  the  bushel  when  landed,  and  under 
favourable  circumstances  may  fall  short  of  2  cents.  Collier  H. 
Minge,  Esq.,  and  Gen.  Corbin  Braxton,  of  King  "William  county, 
who  have  carried  on  this  business  extensively,  and  for  years  in  suc- 
cession, for  marling  their  own  farms,  have  furnished  me  with  careful 
and  detailed  estimates  of  their  expenses,  which  have  been  published 
at  length  in  the  Farmer's  Register  (p.  567,  vol.  i.,  and  p.  691,  vol. 
viii.).  According  to  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Minge,  the  entire  cost  of 
thus  procuring  marl,  carried  15  miles  on  the  broad  water  of  James 
river,  amounted  to  less  than  2  cents  the  heaped  bushel  when  landed. 
And  Gen.  Braxton's  total  expense,  the  transportion  being  for  eight 
miles  on  the  narrow  and  smooth  Pamunkey,  was  but  little  more 
than  half  a  cent  the  bushel,  placed  at  his  landing.  No  charge  was 
made  for  the  marl  in  either  case,  but  every  other  charge  or  expense 
was  included.  The  labour  and  difficulties  on  James  river,  both 
of  uncovering  and  digging  the  marl  (at  Coggins  Point)  and  un- 
loading (on  a  shallow  creek)  were  unusually  great ;  and  on  the 
Pamunkey  these  labours  were  very  light.  A  vessel  and  also  a 
mode  of  loading,  which  would  be  safe  in  strong  winds,  were  neces- 
sary on  James  river ;  while  no  such  danger  had  to  be  feared,  or 
was  guarded  against,  on  the  well-sheltered  Pamunkey  river.  So 
much  of  the  business,  in  both  these  cases,  as  was  conducted  from 
home,  necessarily  was  wanting  of  proper  superintendence  j  and,  no 
doubt,  both  of  these  undertakings  suffered  for  that  important  de- 


CIO  WAIBUS6SSX  ITME." 

ficiencj,  as  in  all  cases  where  labour  is  on  a  small  scale  of  opera- 
tions, and  more  especially  when  slave  labour  is  employed.* 

Another  source  for  obtaining  calcareous  manures  has  been  opened 
to  the  farmers  of  lower  Virginia,  which  they  think  cheaper  than  either 
transporting  marl  or  burning  shells,  and  they  are  availiug  themselves 
of  it  to  great  extent.  This  is  northern  stone-lime,  which  is  brought 
in  bulk,  ready  slaked,  and  sold  by  the  vessel-load  at  prices  varying 
from  8  to  10  cents  the  bushel.  Slaked  lime,  even  if  pure,  from 
its  extreme  lightness,  cannot  be  as  much  to  the  bushel  as  rich 
marl  contains  of  pure  lime,  even  though  the  marl  may  have  30 
per  cent,  of  other  earths.  Therefore  the  lime  is  much  the  most 
costly,  as  marl  may  be  procured  and  transported  at  from  3  to  5 
cents  the  bushel.  Still,  the  lime  is  so  much  more  readily  obtained 
in  large  quantities,  and  a  farm  can  by  that  means  be  so  much  more 
speedily  covered,  that  the  purchase  of  lime  is  often  the  more  de- 
sirable and  also  the  more  profitable  operation  of  the  two.  (1842.) 

In  making  this  improvement,  more  than  in  any  other  business, 
"time  is  money."  Marling  is  usually  effected  by  the  farmer's 
labour,  whereas  the  expense  of  liming  is  mostly  in  the  purchase. 
By  the  use  of  water-borne  marl,  few  farmers  could  dress  a  fourth 
of  their  tillage  field  in  a  year,  whereas  by  purchasing  lime  the 
whole  field  might  be  limed,  and  the  whole  farm  covered  in  one- 
fourth  of  the  time  required  for  marling.  If  then  the  lime  were 
even  thrice  the  cost  of  marl  (for  equal  quantities  of  pure  lime),  it 
would  still  be  the  cheapest  mode  of  improvement,  because  yielding 
its  products  in  one-fourth  of  the  time  required  for  marling.  The 
difference  of  amount  of  net  product  in  the  first  crop,  between  an 
acre  marled  or  limed,  and  another  acre  not  so  improved,  would 
usually  pay  the  cost  of  marling  or  liming  the  acre.  Therefore,  on 
every  acre  cultivated  by  any  farmer,  and  not  marled  or  limed  until 

*  Since  1843,  the  -water-carriage  of  marl  on  James  river  has  greatly  in- 
creased. About  ten  decked  and  rigged  flat -bottomed  vessels  have  generally 
been  employed  in  carrying  marl  from  what  may  be  considered  one  locality, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  my  former  residence,  in  Prince  George  county, 
though  on  the  close  adjacent  lands  of  three  proprietors.  *  Half  a  cent  the 
bushel  is  paid  for  the  marl  in  its  bed.  For  the  labour  and  expense  of 
removing  the  overlay  of  earth,  digging  the  marl  and  carrying  it  on  board, 
and  conveying  to  distances  from  15  to  40  miles,  the  carriers  charge  from 
3£  to  4  cents — making  the  total  cost  at  the  buyer's  landing  place  from  4  to 
4l-  cents.  A  still  larger  business  has  been  at  the  same  time  carried  on  in 
bringing  slaked  stone-lime,  in  sea  vessels,  to  James  river,  from  the  kilns 
on  the  Schuylkill  and  Hudson,  and  elsewhere  in  the  Northern  States.  Thia 
lime  has  latterly  been  sold  as  low  as  7  cents  the  bushel,  usually,  and  in  some 
cases  still  lower.  The  principal  demand  for  and  use  of  both  the  water- 
borne  marl  and  lime  is  on  the  lands  of  Charles  City  county,  -where  marl  is 
not  found  on  any  of  the  river  lands,  and  in  but  few  cases  near  to  the 
river.  (1840.)  The  Schuylkill  lime  contains  about  35  per  cent,  of  mag- 
nesia.    The  New- York  lime  contains  much  silex. 


MARL   ON   RAIL-ROADS.  317 

after  making  the  crop,  there  is  as  much  loss  of  crop  suffered  by 
the  delay,  as  would  have  paid  for  making  the  improvement. 

The  objections  to  carrying  marl  unusual  distances,  admitted 
above,  apply  merely  to  improvements  proposed  for  field  culture. 
But  it  would  be  profitable,  even  under  existing  circumstances, 
for  rich  marl  to  be  carried  10  miles  by  land,  or  200  miles  by 
water,  for  the  purpose  of  being  applied  to  gardens,  or  other  laud 
kept  under  perpetual  tillage,  and  receiving  frequent  and  heavy 
coverings  of  putrescent  manure.  In  such  cases,  independent  of 
the  direct  benefit  which  the  calcareous  earth  might  afford  to  the 
crops,  its  power  of  combining  with  putrescent  matters,  and  pre- 
venting their  waste,  would  be  of  the  utmost  importance.  If  the 
soil  is  acid,  the  making  it  calcareous  will  enable  half  the  usual 
supplies  of  manure  to  be  more  effective  and  durable  than  the  whole 
had  been.  There  are  other  uses  for  marl,  about  dwelling-houses 
and  in  towns,  which  should  induce  its  being  carried  much  farther 
than  mere  agricultural  purposes  would  warrant.  I  allude  to  the 
use  of  calcareous  earth  iu  preserving  putrescent  matters,  and 
thereby  promoting  cleanliness  and  health ;  which  subject  has  been 
already  discussed. 

Either  lime  or  good  marl  may  hereafter  be  profitably  distributed 
over  a  remote  strip  of  poor  land,  by  means  of  the  railroad  now 
constructing  from  Petersburg  to  the  Roanoke  [1831];  provided 
the  proprietors  do  not  imitate  the  over  greedy  policy  of  the  legis- 
lature of  Virginia  in  imposing  tolls  on  manures  passing  through 
the  James  River  canal.  If  there  were  no  object  whatever  in  view 
but  to  draw  the  greatest  possible  income  from  tolls  on  canals  and 
roads,  true  policy  would  direct  that  all  manures  should  pass  from 
town  to  country  toll  free.  Every  bushel  of  lime,  marl,  or  gypsum 
thus  conveyed,  would  be  the  means  of  bringing  back,  in  future 
time,  more  than  as  much  wheat  or  corn ;  and  there  would  be  an 
actual  gain  in  tolls,  besides  the  twenty-fold  greater  increase  to  the 
wealth  of  individuals  and  the  state. 
27* 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

ESTIMATES  OF  THE  COST  OF  LABOUR  APPLIED  TO  MARLING. 

Before  we  can  estimate  with  any  precision  the  expense  of  im- 
proving land  by  marling,  it  is  necessary  to  fix  the  fair  cost  of  every 
kind  of  labour  necessary  for  the  purpose,  and  for  a  length  of  time 
not  less  than  one  year.  We  very  often  hear  guesses  of  how  much 
a  clay's  labour  of  a  man,  a  horse,  or  a  wagon  and  team,  may  be 
worth ;  and  all  are  wide  of  the  truth,  because  they  are  made  on 
wrong  premises,  or  no  premises  whatever.  The  only  correct  method 
is  to  reduce  every  kind  of  labour  to  its  elements,  and  to  fix  the 
cost  of  every  particular  necessary  to  furnish  it.  This  I  shall  at- 
tempt ;  and  if  my  estimates  are  erroneous  in  any  particular,  other 
persons  better  informed  may  easily  correct  my  calculation  in  that 
respect,  and  make  the  necessary  allowance  on  the  final  amount. 
Thus,  even  my  mistakes  in  the  grounds  of  these  estimates  will  not 
prevent  true  and  useful  results  being  derived  from  them. 

The  following  estimates  of  the  cost  of  labour  were  first  prepared 
in  1828,  according  to  the  actual  prices  of  that  year,  and  so  appeared 
in  the  three  preceding  editions  of  this  essay.  The  lapse  of  time  and 
changes  of  average  prices  of  some  of  the  elements  of  cost  required 
correction  of  some  of  the  particulars.  The  corrected  estimates  now 
submitted  are  not  (as  before)  of  the  actual  prices  of  any  one  parti- 
cular year,  but  the  supposed  average  prices  of  a  number  of  years, 
to  the  end  of  the  year  1846.  In  making  the  necessary  corrections 
for  this  purpose,  some  of  the  original  charges  were  deemed  too 
high  for  the  average  statement  desired,  and  others  of  larger  amount 
were  too  low.  The  difference  is  small  (making  less  than  3  per  cent, 
of  general  increase),  but  has  so  far  served  to  raise,  on  the  whole,  the 
estimated  costs  of  marling. 

But  no  such  estimates  (even  if  at  any  one  time  correct  in  the 
premises  of  prices  assumed)  can  more  than  approach  to  accuracy 
for  any  average  of  extended  time,  and  still  less  for  any  particular 
subsequent  year,  owing  to  the  great  and  irregular  fluctuations  of 
prices.  Therefore,  neither  these  nor  any  other  estimates  of  costs 
can  be  relied  on  to  show  the  expense  of  labour  always,  or  even 
generally.  But  these  may  at  least  supply  a  convenient  form  and 
rule  for  the  true  mode  of  estimating  such  values ;  and  every  person 
may  easily  change  the  particular  charges  as  required  to  suit  other 
circumstances.  Thus,  even  if  other  times  and  circumstances  should 
require  changes  of  price  of  every  element  of  labour,  the  form  of 

(318) 


COST   OP   LABOUR — IIANDS.  319 

these  estimates  will  still  serve  greatly  to  facilitate  such  alterations 
and  new  calculations,  and  serve  better  to  secure  the  accuracy  of 
the  general  results.* 

Average  prices  of  different  elements  of  labour,  applied  to  Marling 
operations. 

For  a  negro  man — 
Hire  for  the  year,  payable  at  the  end        .         .         .  550  00 

Food — 19 1  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  at  45  cents       58  77  \ 
Add  10  per  cent,  for  loss  in  keeping  88 

130  lbs.  bacon,  at  7  cents  .         .  9  10 


M/l,Lodkt 


Interest  on  518. 75  £  for  a  yfctr 

Clothing — 6  yards  of  strong  woollen  cloth,  at 
50  cents  .... 

13  yards  of  cotton,  for  shirts  and  sum- 
mer clothes,  at  10 

Woollen  hat  50  cents,  blanket  $1-30, 
each  once  in  two  years,  is  yearly 

Shoes  and  mending     .... 


$18 

75  i 

1 

12} 

53 

00 

1 

30 

90 

o 

00 

19  88 


7  20 


Taxes — State,  47  cents,  county  and  poor,  80, 
labour  on  public  road,  suppose  two 
days,  68  cents,  .....  1  95 

For  nursing  when  sick  (exclusive  of  medical  aid  and 
medicines),  and  share  of  expenses  for  quarters,  fuel, 
and  sending  to  mill         ......  G  00 


585  03 
Add  to  this  amount,  10  per  cent,  for  superintendence  8  50 

Total  expenses  per  year,         ....         593  53 

*  As  stated  above,  these  estimates  were  designed  to  suit  the  average 
prices  of  a  series  of  years  preceding  and  including  1846.  But  since  they 
were  prepared,  owing  to  temporary  causes,  the  prices  of  both  hand  and 
mule  labour  have  greatly  advanced.  Therefore,  if  any  person  designed 
to  begin  a  job  of  marling  now,  and  had  to  incur  for  that  purpose  the  recent 
and  still  continuing  high  prices  of  mules  and  of  hire  of  hands,  the  actual 
advances  on  each  of  these  particular  expenses  only  should  be  added  to  the 
general  costs  as  here  estimated.  But,  in  fact,  very  few  of  our  farmers 
have  to  buy  or  to  hire  more  than  a  small  proportion  of  the  force,  if  any,  that 
they  apply  to  marling.  Most  landholders  own  enough,  or  nearly  enough 
labouring  force,  and  had  before  kept  it  at  less  profitable  employments,  to 
carry  on  marling  in  addition.  This  is  known  to  be  the  case  with  nine  in  ten 
of  such  operations.  And  so  far  as  a  farmer  had  been  before  the  owner  of 
the  labouring  force  he  will  devote  to  marling,  and  would  have  kept  it, 


320  COST   OF   LABOUR — HORSES. 

Time  lost — Sundays  and  usual  holidays,  58  days. 

Bad  weather  and  half  holidays,  and 
sickness,  suppose  -         -         30 

Making  in  all        .         .         .         .         88 
Deducting  88  lost  days  from  3G5  leaves  for  working  days 
277,  and  makes  the  cost  of  each  day  (893.53-^-277  =) 

not  quite, cents  34 

A  ooy  of  13  or  14  years,  might  hire  for  $25  00 

Food  and  clothing,  two-thirds  as  much  as  a  man's        18  12 
Taxes  (county  and  poor  only)  80c,  nursing,  fuel,  • 

&c,  &c,  $4 4  80 


$47  92 
10  per  cent,  for  superintendence  .        .        4  80 


Total  yearly  expense  §52  72 

And  daily,  for  277  working  days,  not  quite,  cents  19  J 

Women  and  girls  over  13  years,  may  be  averaged  at  the  same 
expense,  though  worth  less  for  labour. 

According  to  the  established  custom,  all  the  expenses  of  medical 
attendance,  and  loss  of  time  from  the  death  of  a  slave  occurring 
when  he  is  hired,  are  paid,  or  deducted  from  the  hire,  by  the 
owner,  and  therefore  are  omitted  in  this  estimate.  By  supposing 
the  slave  to  be  hired  by  his  employer,  instead  of  being  owned,  the 
calculation  is  made  more  simple,  and  therefore  more  correct.  Yet 
it  is  well  known  that  the  labour  of  slaves  owned  by  their  employer 
is  much  more  profitable,  and  therefore  should  be  estimated  as 
cheaper,  than  the  labour  of  actual  hirelings. 
A  work-horse.     First  cost  in  buying,  at  five  years  old,  say  875 — 

supposed  to  last  six  years,  makes  the  annual  wear  812  50 

Interest  for  one  year  on  875,  and  tax,  12  J  cents  4  621 

96  bushels  of  corn  (2  J  gallons  for  working  days,  and 

2  gallons  when  jdle)  at  45  cents,  and  3500  lbs.  of  hay 

or  fodder  at  50  cents  the  100  lbs.     -         -         $60  70 
Add  10  per  cent,  for  expense  and  loss  in 

keeping 6  07 

GO  77 

Interest  on  $66  77  for  one  year      -        -        -  4  00 i 


Total  yearly  cost,  $87  89 


whether  going  to  marling  or  not,  it  is  manifest  that  he  is  not  affected  by 
any  temporary  fluctuations  of  prices  of  labour.  The  prices  which  will  be 
here  stated  as  fair  averages  may  fall  or  rise  to  any  extent  for  a  year  or  two, 
■without  lessening  or  increasing  the  expenses  of  a  proprietor  who  neither 
hired,  bought,  nor  sold  labouring  force  during  that  time  (18-32.). 


MULES,  CARTS,  &C.  321 

Lost  time,  suppose  98  days,  leaves  267  working  days,  at  nearly 
33  cents,  cost  for  each. 

A  mule,  young,  and  of  better  than  ordinary  or  average  ability, 
usually  may  be  bought  for  less  price  than  a  young  horse.  A  mule 
may  be  kept  at  work  on  much  less  grain  than  is  necessary  for  a 
horse,  and  with  coarser  and  cheaper  long  forage.  The  mule  is  also 
more  long-lived.  All  these  considerations  will  make  the  cost  of  a 
mule's  labour,  less  than  that  of  a  horse  by  at  least  one-fifth  ;  which 
being  deducted,  leaves,  (33 — 6.30  =)  26:}  cents  for  the  cost  of  each 
working  day. 

A  light  tumbrel  or  tilting  cart,  for  one  horse  or  mule,  may  be 
bought  for  $25.  Suppose  it  to  last  at  marling  (and  other  uses)  for 
four  years  without  repair ;  or  that  at  the  end  of  that  time  it  would 
be  worth  as  much  only  as  all  the  previous  cost  of  repairs.  Then 
the  annual  cost  of  "  wear  and  tear"  would  be  one-fourth  of  the  first 
cost  ($6  25)  and  the  interest  on  £25,  or  $1.50,  or  annually, 
§7.75;  and  daily  (say  for  190  days)  4  cents. 

A  tumbrel  for  tico  mules  will  cost  831,  and  will  last  at  least  five 
years  marling,  with  but  slight  repairs.  Suppose  the  cart  at  that 
time  to  be  worth  the  previous  cost  of  all  repairs,  the  annual  cost 
will  be  one-fifth  of  §34,  and  of  its  interest  32.04,  making  ($34  -f- 
5  =  36.80+32.04=)  38.84  for  the  yearly  cost,  and  daily  for  190 
days,  nearly  5  cents. 

Harness  for  each  horse  or  mule,  annual  average  cost  may  be 
supposed  34,  and  daily  for  267  days  in  use,  1}  cents. 

Of  the  utensils  used  for  uncovering,  digging,  loading,  and  spread- 
ing marl,  as  a  scraper  (used  very  rarely),  grubbing  hoes,  picks  and 
shovels,  the  cost  of  use  and  wear,  supposed  to  be  fully  covered  by 
3  cents  the  100  bushels  of  marl  put  out  and  spread. 

In  the  estimate  of  the  cost  of  horse  labour,  no  charge  is  made 
for  attendance,  because  that  is  part  of  the  labour  of  the  driver,  and 
forms  part  of  his  expense.  No  charge  is  made  for  grazing,  because 
enough  corn  and  hay  are  allowed  for  every  day  in  the  year ;  and 
when  grass  is  part  of  his  food,  more  than  as  much  in  value  is  saved 
in  his  dry  food.  No  charge  is  made  for  stable  or  litter,  as  the  ma- 
nure made  is  supposed  to  compensate  those  expenses. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  the  prices  fixed  for  corn,  and  fodder  or 
hay,  are  too  low  for  an  average.  Such  is  not  my  opinion.  The 
price  is  fixed  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  when  it  is  always  com- 
paratively low,  because  it  is  too  soon  for  purchasers  to  keep  shelled 
corn  in  bulk,  and  the  market  is  glutted.  Besides,  the  allowance 
for  waste  during  the  year's  use  (10  per  cent.)  makes  the  actual 
price,  equal  to  49J  cents  the  bushel  for  corn,  and  55  cents  the 
hundred  for  hay  on  July  1st.  The  nominal  country  price  of  corn 
in  January  is  almost  always  on  credit;  and  small  debts  for  corn 
are  the  latest  and  worst  paid  of  all.     The  farmer  who  can  consume 


322  ESTIMATES   OF   COST   OF   MARLING* 

any  additional  portion  of  his  crop,  in  employing  profitable  labour, 
becomes  his  own  best  customer.  The  corn  supposed  to  be  used, 
by  these  estimates,  is  transferred  on  the  1st  of  January,  without 
even  the  trouble  of  shelling  or  measuring,  from  A.  B.  corn-seller, 
to  A.  B.  marler,  and  instantly  paid  for.  Forty-five  cents  the 
bushel,  at  that  early  time,  and  obtained  with  as  little  trouble,  from 
any  purchaser,  would  be  a  better  regular  sale  than  the  general 
average  of  prices  and  payments. 

Tlie  estimates  of  labour  applied  to  particular  marling  operations. 

According  to  such  estimates  as  the  foregoing  of  the  elements  of 
laboixr,  or  as  corrected  in  any  particulars  which  may  be  deemed 
wanting,  the  expenses  of  marling  operations  ought  to  be  estimated. 
And  if  conducted  with  proper  attention  and  judgment,  it  will  be 
found  that,  in  the  majority  of  cases  in  lower  Virginia,  the  total  cost 
of  applying  marl,  on  farms  furnishing  the  marl,  would  not  exceed 
one  cent  the  bushel.  In  many  other  cases,  of  very  favourable  cir- 
cumstances, half  a  cent  the  bushel  would  cover  all  the  expenses. 
In  but  very  few  cases  of  any  known  actual  operations,  and  of  rare 
and  great  difficulties  to  encounter,  ought  the  total  cost  to  have 
reached  2  cents.  Yet  even  if  amounting  to  6  cents  (for  rich  marl'), 
there  would  still  be  great  profit  on  the  outlay ;  which  is  sufficiently 
proved  by  the  great  and  increasing  recent  use  of  water-borne  marl, 
which  is  sold  at  4  and  5  cents  the  bushel,  delivered  at  the  buyer's 
landing,  and  which  is  further  increased,  for  the  carting  to  and 
spreading  on  the  field. 

In  my  own  long-continued  and  extensive  marling  labours,  over 
nearly  all  the  arable  land  of  three  several  farms  in  succession,  I 
have  but  in  few  cases,  and  those  of  small  extent,  had  very  easy 
work.  Nearly  all  my  marling  has  been  of  more  than  ordinary 
difficulty,  owing  to  the  natural  features  of  the  land,  and  the  posi- 
tion and  character  of  the  marl ;  besides  the  other  early  and  great 
difficulties  always  attending  the  first  beginnings  of  new  operations, 
without  experience  or  other  guidance.  Yet,  throughout  all  my 
marlings  (now  extended  to  some  1500  acres,  at  more  than  the 
general  average  rate  of  400  bushels),  the  average  of  the  whole  ex- 
penses ought  not  (as  I  would  now  conduct  such)  to  have  exceeded 
one  cent  the  bushel,  spread  on  the  field. 

Such  general  opinions  and  statements,  however,  will  be  much 
less  satisfactory  than  statements  of  actual  labours  and  the  actual 
costs.  I  know  of  no  such  estimates  of  the  easier  and  cheaper 
marlings — which  indeed  are  so  easy  and  cheap  that  no  one  would 
care  to  calculate  the  cost.  None  of  my  cheapest  operations  were 
extensive  enough  to  furnish  subjects  for  fair  estimates.  For,  unless 
the  labours,  especially  of  the  teams,  are  continued  nearly  regularly 
for  some  months,  the  accuracy  of  the  estimates  of  cost  may  well  be 


COSTS   OP   MARLING.  323 

doubted.  It  is  necessary  for  the  labours  to  be  continued  through 
enough  time  to  test  the  ability  of  the  teams  to  perform  them,  aud 
still  keep  in  good  condition. 

At  different  periods,  and  under  varying  difficulties  and  circum- 
stances, I  have  carefully  estimated  the  expenses  of  four  considera- 
ble jobs  of  marling,  each  of  which  was  but  a  portion  of  the  usual, 
and  as  heavy  labours  of  the  teams,  extending  much  beyond  the 
portions  of  time  and  labour  particularly  estimated.  And  all  the 
four  operations,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  were  attended  with  more 
natural  obstacles  and  difficulties  than  are  generally  to  be  encoun- 
tered on  otber  farms.  I  will  describe  in  general  the  circumstances, 
facilities,  and  difficulties  of  each  of  these  jobs,  and  give  the  results 
of  the  estimates  of  costs.  The  details  of  the  operations,  though 
carefully  noted,  and  some  of  the  earlier  of  them  before  published, 
in  the  preceding  editions,  will  be  omitted  here,  except  as  to  a  more 
recent  and  much  the  largest  operation,  of  which  the  facts  were 
observed  so  minutely,  that  they  are  deemed  worth  reporting  in  de- 
tail ;  and  which  will  be  so  reported  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

The  labours  and  expenses  of  marling  come  under  the  following 
four  different  heads:  1.  Removing  the  overlay  of  earth;  2.  Dig- 
ging the  marl  and  shovelling  it  into  carts;  3.  The  carting  to 
the  field  ;  and  4.  The  spreading.  It  rarely  happens  tha#all  these 
different  operations  are  very  easy — which  would  constitute  the 
cheapest  possible  marling;  and  if  all  were  very  difficult,  the  whole 
would  be  (or  at  least  so  deemed  by  most  persons)  too  costly  to  be 
compensated  by  the  eventual  improvement.  It  usually  happens 
that  the  unusual  facilities  for  some  of  these  particular  labours  serve 
to  compensate  in  some  measure  the  obstacles  presented  in  others. 

The  first  job  estimated  was  attended  with  such  uncommon  dis- 
advantages that  it  may  be  deemed  a  failure,  or  as  mostly  lost 
labour,  and  therefore  not  a  fair  subject  for  estimating  costs.  But 
as  the  operations  had  been  carefully  noted,  and  as  this  work  imme- 
diately preceded,  without  any  intermission,  the  second  job,  I  will 
state  the  first  also. 

The  two  operations  were  but  a  small  part  of  the  excavation  and 
removal  of  a  very  large  quantity  of  marl  from  this  locality,  enough 
perhaps  for  200  acres ;  of  which  the  portions  estimated  were  among 
the  latest  executed;  and  the  most  expensive,  because  of  the  then 
much  increased  thickness  of  the  overlying  earth. 

The  marl  "  cropped  out,"  or  was  exposed  at  the  surface  of  a 
steep  hill-side  (in  large  forest  growth).  The  upper  6  feet  of  the 
marl  was  dry  and  firm,  but  easy  enough  to  dig ;  the  shelly  portion 
in  small  fragments,  and  amounting  to  45  per  cent,  of  the  mass. 
Below  6  feet,  it  was  much  poorer  (not  20  per  cent.),  and  was  not 
used,  except  for  very  short  distances. 

I.  The  excavations  for  the  first  job,  as  usual  on  hill-side  expo- 


324  COSTS   OP    MARLING. 

sures,  was  carried  on  by  first  cutting  down  the  exposed  and  nearly 
naked  marl,  which  required  but  little  labour  for  uncovering.  The 
next  succeeding  stretch  reaching  higher  up  the  hill,  had  perhaps 
a«  much  overlying  earth  as  of  good  marl  beneath.  The  next  had 
much  more  overlay ;  and  indeed  it  was  not  worth  uncovering  so 
deeply,  when  other  places  could  be  more  cheaply  worked.  This 
last  stretch  formed  the  subject  of  the  first  estimate.  In  reference 
to  the  four  divisions  of  the  labour  and  expenses — 

I.  The  xemoving  of  the  overlay  of  earth  was  here  unusually 
heavy,  compared  to  the  thickness  of  the  marl,  rising  to  16  feet 
where  thickest,  and  averaged  11  to  12.  2.  The  digging  and  load- 
ing, and  also  the  spreading,  were  very  easy.  3.  The  carriage  easy 
as  to  distance  (997  yards  average  from  pit  to  field),  but  bad  in 
having  a  hill  to  rise  of  about  40  feet  perpendicular  height,  and 
also  a  valley  to  cross,  of  about  30  perpendicular  depth. 

One-fourth  of  the  uncovered  marl  was  lost  by  the  falling  in  of 
a  large  body  of  earth  from  above;  so  that  only  4§  feet  of  marl 
was  actually  carried  out,  thus  increasing  the  before  heavy  cost  of 
the  uncovering,  for  the  quantity  of  marl  saved. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  total  costs,  obtained  by  noting 
every  day's  work,  and  its   elements,  and  at  the  foregoing  prices 
(omitting5  the  details),  were  as  follows  : — 
Expense  of  removing  overlay  of  earth  (11  to  12  feet  thick 

on  an  average)  .......    824  70 

Digging,  loading,  and  carting  marl  (3844  heaped  bushels)  26  18 
Spreading,  at  50  cents  the  500  bushels    .         .         .  3  84 

Total,  854  j'l 

Which  makes  the  cost  per  100  bushels,  81.42 ;  and  per  acre,  as 
applied,  at  572  bushels,  88.12;  or  if  for  300  bushels,  84.26. 

The  quantity  actually  applied  was  much  too  heavy;  and  by  the 
excess  increased,  by  one-third,  the  otherwise  heavy  expense.  The 
thickness  of  the  dressing,  however,  made  the  spreading  cheaper 
for  the  quantity,  the  heaps  being  so  much  the  closer  to  each  other. 

II.  The  second  job  followed  on  immediately,  but  on  the  opposite 
slope  (across  the  narrow  ravine),  where  the  overlay  was  8|  to  9 
feet  average  depth,  and  all  the  6  feet  of  good  marl  was  used.  The 
average  distance  from  pit  to  field  (over  the  same  hilly  road),  was 
887  yards.  The  marl  being  precisely  as  in  the  first  job,  the  facili- 
ties for  digging,  loading,  and  spreading  were  the  same.  But  the 
loads  (for  a  single  horse  or  mule-cart),  which  before  were  5  J  heaped 
bushels,  were  now  5J — the  marl  weighing  101  lbs. 

Removing  overlay  ......         814  15 

Digging  and  carting  marl  (4036  bushels)         .         .  20  75 

Spreading,  at  50  cents  the  500  bushels   .         .         .  4  36 

Total,  839  26 


COSTS   OF    MAULING.  325 

Which  makes  the  cost,  per  hundred  bushels,  97}  cents ;  or,  per 
acre,  as  applied,  at  598  bushels,  $5.81$  j  or,  if  at  300  bushels, 
which  would  have  been  an  abundant  first  dressing,  82.91}  per  acre. 
These  two  jobs  extended,  without  interruption,  except  from  bad 
weather  or  accidents  to  carts,  from  April  20th  to  May  31st,  1824. 
Two  ordinary  horses  and  a  very  good  mule  were  worked  in  light  sin- 
gle carts.  The  best  of  the  two  horses  was  seventeen  years  old.  The 
two  had  been  kept  at  hauling  marl,  whenever  weather  permitted, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  preceding  November ;  and,  indeed,  the 
same  two  horses  had  carried  out  nearly  all  the  marl  on  Coggins 
farm,  since  the  commencement  in  1818.  The  day's  travel  from  pit 
to  field  and  back,  for  both  the  two  jobs,  varied  from  22  to  23  J 
miles,  besides  about  1}  miles  in  all  from  and  to  the  stable.  Fur 
the  digging,  loading,  and  carting,  two  men  and  two  small  boys  were 
employed. 

III.  The  thh-d  estimated  job  was  on  Shellbanks  farm,  also  in 
Prince  George  county,  over  a  much  larger  surface  than  the  preced- 
ing, but  from  sundry  different  pits,  over  different  routes,  and  to 
different  fields.  The  overlay  was  mostly  thinner  than  the  marl 
beneath,  and  both  were  dry  in  most  cases ;  the  working  of  both 
easier  than  usual ;  the  distances  moderate,  the  average  from  pits 
to  fields  being  not  more  than  half  a  mile ;  though  the  land  being 
hilly,  almost  every  load  had  to  rise  a  hill  from  the  pit,  from  40  to 
100  feet  of  perpendicular  height.  In  1828,  soon  after  buying  this 
poor  farm,  I  began  the  marling,  and  in  about  4  months  finished 
120  £  acres  at  rates  between  230  and  280  bushels  per  acre.  The 
time  taken  up  in  this  work  was  five  days  in  January,  and  all  Febru- 
ary and  March,  with  two  single  mule  carts  (and  but  ordinary 
mules),  and  from  August  5th  to  September  27th,  with  a  much 
stronger  force. 

Taking  everything  into  consideration,  I  should  suppose  that  the 
labour  and  cost  of  this  large  job  of  marling  will  be  ecmal  to,  if  not 
greater  than  the  average  of  all  that  may  be  undertaken,  and 
judiciously  executed,  on  farms  having  plenty  of  this  means  for  im- 
provement, at  convenient  distances.  The  whole  cost  of  this  large 
job  was  as  follows  : — 

Preparatory  work,  including  uncovering  marl,  cutting 
and  repairing  the  necessary  roads,  and  bringing  corn 
(from  another  farm)  for  the  teams — digging,  carrying 
out,  and  spreading  6892  loads  of  marl  (4  £  heaped 
bushels  only,  because  of  the  steep  hills,  and  sometimes 
wet  marl),  31,014  bushels  on  120  i  acres,  -  -  §265  90 
At  the  average  rate  of  57  J  loads,  or  259  bushels  per 

acre,  the  average  expense  was  to  the  acre,     -         -  2  28 

Or  §2.58,  if  for  300  bushels  to  the  acre. 
And  to  the  bushel.        -        -        86-100ths  of  a  cent. 
28 

t 


326  COSTS   OF   MARLING. 

In  this  job,  the  quantity  of  labour  of  every  kind  employed,  was 
accurately  noted,  and  also  the  amount  of  marl  carried  out ;  so  that 
the  cost  could  be  very  exactly  calculated.  But  owing  to  the  great 
and  frequent  variation  of  distances  from  the  various  pits  opened, 
there  was  no  measurement  of  the  travel  made,  and  of  course  the 
proportion  of  work  performed  to  the  force  engaged  was  not  known. 

IV.  The  next  job  of  marling  estimated  was  in  1844,  on  Marl- 
bourne,  a  farm  on  the  Pamunkey  river  then  recently  bought,  and 
made  my  residence.  This  is  the  operation  of  which  the  facts  in 
detail  will  be  given  hereafter.  Therefore  it  is  enough  to  state  here 
that  the  total  cost  of  7803  bushels,  carried  to  the  average  distance 
of  1436  yards  from  pit  to  field,  amounted  to  04  cents  for  the  100 
bushels  of  marl,  spread  on  the  land. 

Thus,  of  these  four  considerable  operations,  performed  at  diffe- 
rent periods,  and  under  different  circumstances,  of  which  one  only 
can  be  deemed  of  ordinary  facility  and  cheapness,  and  one  other 
was  excessively  laborious  and  expensive,  the  costs  brought  together 
are  as  follows  : — 


1st,  on  Coggins  Point  farm, 

OJ        "  "  a  it 

3d,     "  Shellbanks, 
4th,   "  Marlbourne, 


Cost  per  100 
heaped  bushels 
$1   42 
0  97£ 
0  B6 
0  94 


Cost  per  acre  if 

at  300  bushels. 

$4  26 

2  92 

2  58 

2  82 


But  not  one  of  these  operations  was  as  judiciously  and  cheaply 
executed  as  my  more  full  experience  would  now  direct;  and  if 
either  one  were  now  to  be  done,  I  could  save  much  of  the  labour 
before  expended.  Nor  does  this  rest  on  supposition,  but  has  been 
actually  tested  by  further  and  large  operations  in  the  same  locality 
and  circumstances  as  of  the  fourth  in  the  above  statement.  By 
improving  the  processes,  or  avoiding  previous  waste  of  means, 
something  has  been  saved  in  every  branch  of  labour,  as  will  here- 
after be  shown. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

DETAILS  OF  ACTUAL  AND  EXTENSIVE  MARLING  LABOURS. 

The  largest  known  uncovering  and  excavation  of  marl  is  that 
which  was  begun  by  me  in  18-44,  soon  after  my  resuming  marling 
labours  in  a  new  locality,  and  under  new  circumstances ;  and  which 
work  was  in  progress  to  1850.  This  work  is  deemed  worthy  of 
being  particularly  described,  for  the  extent  and  the  mode  of  opera- 
tion ;  and  still  more  because  some  or  all  of  the  same  general  features 
of  the  locality,  and  advantages  and  difficulties,  belong  to  Jtcry  many 
other  situations,  of  low-lying  marl.  It  will  not  be  my  aim,  in  this 
place,  to  describe  the  general  character  or  to  note  differences  of  the 
extensive  marl  formations  of  the  Pamunkey  river ;  but  to  state 
minutely  the  particular  conditions  of  this  one  locality,  and  the 
labours  there  actually  performed. 

The  place  is  on  the  Newcastle  farm,  belonging  to  Carter  Braxton, 
Esq.,  and  adjoining  my  own.  The  ground  is  part  of  a  long  and 
narrow  stretch  of  the  lower  and  more  sandy  land  of  the  broad 
flats  bordering  the  Pamunkey.  The  surface  soil,  covering  the  dig- 
gings to  be  described,  is  nearly  level,  but  gradually  rises,  and  the 
earth  overlying  the  marl  increases  in  thickness  from  4  feet,  in  the 
earlier  work,  to  6  J  at  its  greatest  present  enlargement.  The  sur- 
face of  the  bed  of  marl  is  also  very  nearly  horizontal ;  and  the  vari- 
ations from  the  level  do  not  agree  with  those  of  the  surface  soil. 

The  marl  originally  was  here  exposed  to  view  by  being  partly 
cut  through  by  a  narrow  gully  conveying  a  small  stream ;  which 
stream  received  all  the  drainage  of  the  adjacent  land,  and  thereby 
was  subject  to  be  swollen  by  heavy  rains.  The  stream,  naturally, 
was  about  2  feet  below  the  highest  exposed  marl,  and  about  4  feet 
above  the  bottom  of  the  bed  at  the  same  place.  Except  the  con- 
tinuation of  this  stream,  and  the  narrow  ravine  conveying  it,  which 
very  gradually  descended  to  the  river,  all  the  adjacent  ground 
was  at  least  four  feet  higher  than  the  upper  surface  of  the  marl. 
The  annexed  figure  will  show  the  profile  of  the  different  layers,  at 
the  distance  of  40  to  60  feet  from  the  stream. 

(327) 


J23 


Overlay. 


PAMUMKKT   MARL. 

FiorRE  1. 

i 

'Sandy  surface  soil,  about  6  inches 

Sandy  sub-soil,  dry  and  firm  1 
Loose  and  dry  sandy  gravel    J 


Indurated  ferruginous  sandy  "> 
gravel,  wet,  1  foot  / 


Feet 


Wet  and  adhesive  green  clay,  ("olive  earth")  1  foot 


01 


'  Soft  and  pervious  clay  marl,  6  inches 


Compact  and  impervious  clay  marl,  5  feet 


Marl. 


I   y)b 


Softer  layer,  1  foot 

Layer  of  stony  lumps,  1  foot 


Gypseous,  or  green-sand  earth,  with  very  little  shelly  mat-  "^ 
ter,  of  great  and  unknown  thickness — at  least  -iO  feet       J 


40 


The  soil  of  the  overlying  land  is  a  rich  black  sandy  loam  (before 
drained  and  cultivated),  6  or  8  inches  deep,  lying  on  a  sandy 
subsoil,  firm  and  dry,  and  becoming  more  coarse  and  loose  as  de- 
scending, until  it  is  more  of  fine  gravel  than  sand.  All  the  above 
la}-ers,  varying  from  2  \  to  4  feet  in  the  successive  uncovcrings,  are 
dry  and  easy  to  dig  and  remove.  Below  these,  the  gravelly  sand 
is  more  or  less  cemented  into  a  hard  and  almost  stony  bed,  by  the 
percolation  of  ferruginous  spring  water.  Under  this  layer,  which 
is  full  of  veins  of  springs,  coming  from  beneath  the  higher  ground, 
there  lies  a  very  uniform  layer,  from  8  to  14  inches  thick,  of  green 
clay,  which  is  the  water-bearing  stratum,  and  keeps  the  lower  part 
of  the  gravel  above  full  of  water.  This  green  clay  has  a  very  pe- 
culiar appearance  and  texture.  Though  very  largely  constituted 
of  pure  clay,  and  extremely  adhesive  and  close  after  being  moved, 
yet  in  its  bed  it  is  very  soft  and  pervious  to  slowly-oozing  water, 
and,  of  course,  is  saturated  by  the  numerous  veins  of  springs  above. 
I  think  that  this  green  clay  was  formerly  the  upper  part  of  the 
marl ;  and  has  had  all  its  former  shelly  matter  decomposed  and 
carried  off  by  the  constant  access  and  passage  of  water  containing 
salts  of  iron.  The  upper  4  to  6  inches  of  the  marl  immediately 
below  this  clay,  seems  as  if  in  transition  to  the  same  state.  It  is 
Boft,  permeable  by  water,  miry,  and  adhesive,  all  which  are  qualities 
of  the  clay  above,  and  entirely  different  from  the  compact  marl 


EXCAVATION   OF   SMALL   TITS.  329 

below.  Although  this  lower  marl  also  contains  a  large  proportion 
of  clay,  yet  the  carbonate  of  lime  present,  in  finely-divided  state, 
not  only  preserves  a  very  firm  natural  texture,  but  also  prevents 
adhesiveness  in  working;  unless  the  marl  is  permitted  to  receive 
water  after  being  dug  and  finely  reduced.  Then,  indeed,  it  is  made 
a  sticky  mass;  and  the  labour  of  shovelling  it  is  more  than  doubled. 

The  whole  bed  of  marl  at  this  place  varies  from  6  to  8  feet  in 
thickness,  and  generally  is  more  than  7  feet,  through  the  extent 
of  my  work.  The  much  larger  part,  of  4  to  6  feet  thick,  is  per- 
fectly impervious  to  the  passage  of  water,  though  highly  absorbent 
of  moisture,  and  always  moist  in  its  bed.  This  requires  to  be  dug 
by  a  heavy  and  narrow  grubbing-hoe,  which,  in  the  hands  of  a  good 
pit-man,  can  be  sunk  barely  3  inches  into  this  marl  at  a  stroke. 
Still  lower,  for  a  foot  or  more,  the  marl  is  softer,  and  the  shells 
are  less  reduced.  And  lowest,  also  for  about  a  foot,  the  marl  is  in 
large  stony  masses,  lying  so  closely  as  to  form  a  connected  pavement. 
The  breaking  up  of  this  stony  layer  requires  heavy  and  strong 
picks,  and  the  work  is  laborious  and  slow.  But  these  hard  lumps 
are  much  richer  in  lime  than  the  marl  above.  The  excavation  is 
carried  no  deeper  than  through  this  stony  layer ;  and  even  that 
has  often  been  omitted,  on  account  of  the  greater  labour  to  dig, 
and  to  throw  it  up  from  the  greatest  depth. 

Next  below  this  stony  layer  is  the  green-sand  earth,  of  great  and 
unknown  depth.  Here,  this  contains  only  about  2  or  3  per  cent, 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  in  a  few  widely  dispersed  shells,  with  the 
usual  and  considerable  proportion  of  green-sand.  I  do  not  use  this 
earth,  nor  deem  it  worth  using  as  manure,  where  the  upper  marl 
is  to  be  obtained.  Nevertheless,  this  lowest  bed  was  formerly  used 
by  the  proprietor,  and  by  others,  in  this  neighbourhood,  as  "  marl," 
without  discrimination;  and  it  was  then  even  preferred  by  most 
persons  to  rich  calcareous  marl,  if  the  latter  were  without  green- 
sand.* 

Excavation  of  Marl  in  small  perpendicular  pits. 

The  first  working  was  begun  by  digging  and  throwing  off  the 
overlay  adjoining  a  part  of  the  narrow  "  out-crop"  or  exposed  marl, 
on  the  side  of  the  natural  gully  through  which  the  stream  flowed, 
so  as  to  uncover  a  surface  of  marl  5  or  6  feet  wide  and  8  or  9  in 
length  (marked  1,  in  fig.  2).  So  narrow  was  the  gully,  and  so  lit- 
tle fall  had  the  stream,  that  it  was  difficult  to  dispose  of  the  earth 
from  even  this  small  uncovering.     The  marl  was  then  dug  out,  so 

*  The  description  of  the  strata  is  here  generally  confined  to  such  features 
as  materially  affected  the  labours  of  excavation,  and  removal  of  the  overlay 
ami  marl,  or  the  supposed  manuring  values  of  the  lower  beds.  In  a  subse- 
quent part,  in  connexion  with  the  marls  of  Virginia  in  general,  the  Pa- 
lnunkey  beds  will  be  more  fully  described. 


330 


MANNER   OF   EXCAVATION. 


Fid.  II. 
Horizontal  Plan  of  Marl  Diggings. 


Explanations.     Fia.  II. 

*i  x — Stream,  in  a  small  natural  ravine,  on  the  sides  of  -which  some  of  the 
marl  was  exposed,  at  the  out-cropping. 

A,  A — the  first  range  of  marl,  successively  uncovered  and  excavated  in  the 
small  perpendicular  pits  1,  2,  3,  4,  &c. 

B,  B,  and  C,  C — second  and  third  ranges  of  diggings,  in  like  manner,  but 
iucreased  in  sizes  of  pits. 

D,  D,  D — at  first  the  natural  surface  of  ground  (5  feet  above  the  marl),  on 
■which  the  marl  was  thrown  out  of  the  pits  of  range  C ;  and  next  after, 
D,  D,  D,  was  the  first  range  of  graduated  digging. 

c,  d — the  upper  part  of  D,  9G  feet  long,  the  overlay  but  partly  removed  at 
first,  so  as  to  form  an  inclined  plane  for  the  roadway.  The  same  de- 
scending grade  continued  in  excavating  the  marl  from  d  to  e  e. 

c,  d,  e,  e — narrow  drain  cut  first  down  to,  and  afterwards  into  the  marl,  to 
intercept  spring  water,  and  turn  it  into  the  stream  x — and  thus  to  drain 
the  space  D  D. 

g,  g — farm  road,  on  level,  opposite  ranges  D,  E,  F,  G,  rising  from  5  to  6J 
feet  above  the  marl. 

h,  h,  h,  h — upper  ends  of  roads  successively  used  from  the  graduated  dig- 
gings. 

o,  o — lower  ends  of  descending  roadways  in  the  marl. 

E,  F,  G — successive  ranges,  uncovered  and  excavated  in  graduated  diggings, 
similar  to  D,  but  increased  In  extent. 

II,  II — range  36  feet  wide,  uncovered  for  next  working — and  less  than  half 
the  marl  of  which  was  excavated,  when  my  operations  at  this  place  were 
finally  closed  in  December,  1850. 

N.  B.  The  Fig.  II.  is  drawn  on  the  scale  of  80  feet  to  the  inch,  for  the 
dimensions  of  ranges,  and  the  general  outline  and  space.  But  small  sizes, 
and  distances,  as  width  of  drains,  &c,  are  necessarily  irregular,  and  much 
larger  than  the  scale. 


(331) 


332  EXCAVATION   OF   SMALL   TITS. 

as  to  form  a  pit  with  perpendicular  sides,  and  thrown  upon  the 
adjoining  firm  ground  (on  3),  whence  the  carts  removed  it  nearly 
or  quite  as  fast  as  supplied  from  the  digging.  This  small  excava- 
tion served  to  receive  the  removed  overlay  from  the  next  adjoining 
and  larger  uncovering  (2),  which,  when  pitted,  in  like  manner, 
received  the  overlay  from  a  still  larger  space  (3).  In  this  manner, 
successively  digging  out  small  pits  with  perpendicular  sides,  and 
then  rilling  each  one  with  the  earth  removed  to  uncover  adjoining 
and  enlarged  spaces,  the  whole  of  the  first  irregular  range  (A  A  A) 
was  worked  out,  between  the  stream  (x)  and  the  line  a  b,  then  the 
lower  limit  of  the  firm  overlying  surface  ground,  on  which  the  marl 
had  been  thrown  for  the  carts,  from  the  previously  dug  range  of 
pits.  So  far,  the  work  had  been  on  the  thinner  out-running  of  the 
strata,  and  the  sloping  overlay  not  any  where  more  than  4  feet  thick. 
But  thin  as  it  was,  and  close  to  the  places  where  thrown,  the  re- 
moval was  laborious,  owing  to  the  oozing  spring-water,  and  the 
adhesive  clay,  made  much  worse  by  the  epiantity  of  water.  Of 
course,  for  such  small  and  frequent  uncoverings  the  previous  cutting 
off  of  the  access  of  springs  was  out  of  the  question.  This  difficulty, 
caused  by  the  water  being  necessarily  worked  up  with  the  clay  and 
other  earth,  increased  with  the  increased  width  of  the  uncoverings, 
and  the  distances  to  throw  off  the  earth.  Each  small  uncovering 
of  marl,  after  all  its  overlay  had  been  removed,  was  separately 
drained,  by  a  small  trench  being  dug  in  the  marl  along  its  laud 
side,  and  catching  and  leading  the  intercepted  oozing  springs  into 
the  previously  made  and  still  partly  open  excavations.  As  the 
marl  was  thrown  up  across  these  draining  trenches,  they  were  fre- 
quently choked  by  the  marl,  falling  back.  This  was  partially 
guarded  against  by  laying  a  thick  plank  over  the  trench.  Walls 
of  marl,  15  to  20  inches  thick,  were  left  between  each  completed 
pit  and  the  next  one  begun,  to  keep  out  of  the  newer  work  the 
mud  and  water  which  filled  the  older.  But  after  each  pit  was 
finished,  more  Or  less  of  the  wall  previously  left  was  cut  down,  and 
so  much  of  the  marl  saved.  Still,  there  was  much  loss  of  marl  in 
what  was  necessarily  left  of  these  walls.  Besides,  other  losses  were 
sometimes  caused  by  floods  from  heavy  rains,  or  the  breaking  down 
of  walls,  filling  unfinished  diggings  with  water  or  mud  too  deep  to 
be  worth  the  cleaning  out. 

Along  the  first  range  of  digging  (A  A  A),  the  stream  was  higher 
than  the  bottom  of  the  pits,  from  2  feet  at  the  beginning  (1),  to  4 
feet  at  the  upper  end  (a).  Its  water  was  kept  out  of  the  diggings 
by  leaving  a  narrow  wall  of  marl  alongside  of  the  stream.  This 
served  as  a  barrier  uutil  each  pit  was  finished ;  after  which  the  en- 
trance of  water  caused  no  serious  inconvenience.  As  the  pitting 
was  extended  up  the  course  of  the  stream,  the  thickness  of  the 
marl  stratum  increased  to  8  feet.     The  lowest  stony  layer,  however, 


EXCAVATION  OP  SMALL  PITS.  833 

was  then  generally  left ;  being  not  deemed  worth  the  great  labour 
of  throwing  it  up  so  high.  The  overlay  being  there  4  feet  thick, 
the  extreme  height  to  raise  the  marl  was  12  feet  from  the  bottom 
of  the  marl  to  the  surface  of  the  ground  where  the  carts  were 
loaded. 

In  this  manner  of  working,  were  successively  uncovered  and 
excavated  the  next  ranges,  B  15  and  C  C.  But  before  either  range  of 
marl  was  near  being  finished,  the  removal  of  the  next  succeeding 
overlay  had  been  begun  and  was  extended  at  convenient  times,  and 
especially  when  the  wet  or  frozen  condition  of  the  land  forbade 
most  other  farm  labours.  At  such  times,  the  worst  previous 
weather  but  slightly  impedes  the  uncovering  of  marl;  and  thus  a 
large  proportion  of  this  heavy  labour  has  been  performed  when 
scarcely  any  other  farm  work  could  be  done.  This  circumstance 
greatly  diminishes  what  would  otherwise  be  the  expense. 

The  digging  of  the  first  marl  (1  in  A)  was  begun  on  June  28th, 
1844.  The  excavation  of  the  third  range  of  pits,  CC,  was  finished 
the  following  April.  This  last  range  was  250  feet  long,  15 
feet  wide  on  an  average ;  and  measured  25,800  cubic  feet  in  the 
bed  (allowing  a  proper  deduction  for  lost  walls  and  bottoms),  which 
would  expand  to  about  29,670  heaped  bushels  after  being  dug. 

The  separate  pits  of  the  wider  and  more  regular  range  C  C  were 
much  louger,  as  well  as  much  wider,  than  those  of  the  earlier  ranges. 
They  were  the  full  width  permitted  by  that  of  the  uncovered  marl, 
clear  of  the  narrow  drain  on  the  land-side,  and  the  wall  left  on  the 
opposite  side — or  about  13  feet.  In  length,  they  were  15  to  20 
feet,  or  more,  to  suit  the  amount  of  labour  engaged.  In  the 
usually  dry  weather  of  summer  and  autumn,  and  even  in  winter 
when  a  strong  force  was  employed,  there  was  the  less  danger  of 
having  unfinished  work  suspended  by  rain,  and  lost  by  overflow 
of  water,  or  caving  earth ;  and  then  larger  diggings  were  opened. 
By  increasing  the  size  of  the  pits,  there  was  the  less  trouble  in 
constructing  new  drains,  less  loss  in  the  dividing  walls  left,  and 
more  space  and  convenience  for  the  pit-men.  Besides,  there  was 
the  benefit  of  equalizing  the  labour  of  throwing  out  the  marl,  by 
keeping  the  digging  on  two  different  levels  at  the  same  time. 

The  still  slightly  increasing  thickness  of  the  overlying  earth 
made  that  of  the  next  range  (D)  5  feet ;  to  which  height,  of  course, 
the  marl  was  thrown  from  the  pits  of  C,  making  the  perpendicular 
height  from  the  top  of  the  marl  5  feet,  and  from  the  bottom,  13 
feet,  when  all  was  dug;  or  12  feet  when  the  stony  bottom  layer 
was  left,  as  was  now  usual.  But  to  make  sure  of  the  thrown  marl 
not  falling  back  into  the  pit,  and  especially  when  there  was  some 
quantity  of  marl  remaining  in  the  pile  in  advance  of  the  carting, 
the  height  of  the  pit-man's  cast  was  necessarily  considerably  more 
than  the  mere  depth  of  the  then  excavation.     Added  to  this  was 


83-1  LABOURS   OP  A   SINGLE   MULE. 

all  the  lateral  distance,  which  where  greatest  of  the  range  C,  and 
from  the  outside  of  the  pit  across  to  the  loading  place,  was  usually 
14  and  in  some  wider  parts  17  feet.  This  throwing  of  the  marl 
from  the  greatest  depth  and  width  of  the  pit  was  very  heavy  and 
slow  work. 

It  was  after  the  usual  steady  work  of  my  then  regular  marling 
force,  begun  the  '24th  of  the  preceding  January  at  another  digging, 
and  continued  whenever  the  state  of  the  weather  and  roads  per- 
mitted, that  the  excavation  and  carting  were  begun  at  this  digging 
on  June  28th,  1844.  On  April  29th,  previously,  I  had  begun  to 
measure  and  to  note  the  quantity  of  marl  carried  every  day  by 
each  cart,  and  the  distances  travelled;  and  of  which  the  reoord 
was  carefully  and  accurately  continued  until  Sept.  11th  (with  the 
exception  of  a  few  days  only,  when  the  teams  were  at  other  work), 
for  every  day  when  the  weather  and  roads  permitted  marling. 
Though  noting  thus  the  work  of  every  separate  cart  and  team, 
whether  regularly  or  rarely  so  employed,  the  trial  was  especially 
designed  for  one  particular  mule,  which  was  always  kept  at  hauling 
marl  (when  that  work  was  going  on),  and  which  has  continued  to 
be  so  employed  to  this  time,  in  1849.  This  mule  is  rather  above 
average  size,  and  might  have  been  sold  for  §65,  according  to  the 
prices  usual  in  and  before  1844.  She  had  begun  this  labour 
in  January,  when  poor;  had  improved  while  so  employed;  and 
was  in  excellent  working  condition  when  marling  was  suspended 
in  September,  for  the  purpose  of  all  the  mules  being  used  for  the 
heavier  labours  of  fallow-ploughing  for  wheat,  and  afterwards  har- 
rowing in  the  seed.  I  could  extend  the  statement  of  this  mule's 
daily  work,  as  particularly,  by  embracing  what  had  been  previously 
observed  and  noted  from  April  29th,  and  also  of  all  the  other 
teams,  irregularly  employed.  But  it  will  be  enough  to  present  the 
portion  of  work  done  by  this  one,  and  only  from  the  beginning  of 
the  excavations  at  this  locality,  of  which  the  circumstances,  and 
for  this  purpose,  have  been  so  minutely  stated  above.  It  is  only 
by  such  careful  observations,  and  actual  measurements  of  quanti- 
ties and  distances,  and  these,  moreover,  continued  for  a  considera- 
ble extent  of  time,  that  any  fair  and  unquestionable  evidence  can 
be  afforded  of  the  amount  and  cost  of  any  labour  that  can  be  per- 
formed in  a  certain  time,  by  men  or  beasts,  and  especially  of  the 
latter.  For  a  few  days,  or  perhaps  for  a  few  weeks,  there  might 
be  performed  labours  which  the  teams  would  sink  under  if  con- 
tinued much  longer.  But  when  a  certain  measure  of  work  has 
been  done  regularly  for  months  together,  without  any  apparent 
difficulty  or  hardship  to  hands  or  teams,  still  more,  when  the  teams 
have  improved  in  flesh  while  continuing  and  even  increasing  their 
daily  labour  (as  in  this  case),  there  can  remain  no  question  as  to 


DIRECTION   OP   LABOUR.  335 

the  ability  of  all  to  continue  to  perform  the  same  amount  of  labour 
fur  any  length  of  time,  under  like  circumstances. 

From  the  commencement  of  my  marling  on  my  then  newly-pur- 
chased farm,  Marlbourne,  two  mules  were  assigned  to  this  work, 
to  be  regularly  so  employed  in  all  time  fit  for  hauling  marl,  except 
during  the  greater  pressure  of  certain  other  farm  labours.  These 
times  were  to  be  during  wheat  harvest  (when  only  for  eight  or  ten 
days  all  the  mules  usually  would  be  idle,  because  all  the  drivers  were 
needed  as  harvest  hands),  when  hauling  out  the  stable  and  winter- 
made  manure — hauling  in  and  thrashing  the  wheat  crop,  and  deliver- 
ing the  grain  for  market  at  the  river  landing — for  the  ploughing  for 
fallow  wheat,  and  ploughing  and  harrowing  when  seeding — and  to 
plough  the  corn  for  a  few  days  both  before  and  after  wheat  harvest 
— and  sometimes  when  hauling  in  the  corn  crop,  if  hands  could 
not  then  be  spared  to  dig  marl.  None  of  these  labours,  except 
hauling  in  wheat  and  corn  from  the  fields,  are  lighter  than  would 
be  the  continuation  of  hauling  marl ;  and  some  of  them  (fallow- 
ploughing,  harrowing,  and  thrashing)  are  much  heavier.  All  these 
different  operations  usually  kept  the  marling  suspended  for  times 
amounting  to  about  half  the  working  days  of  each  year.  But  not 
so  much  in  1844,  as  there  was  then  no  wheat  crop  to  harvest  or 
thrash,  and  very  little  manure  made  to  be  carried  out.  All  these 
abstractions  of  the  regular  marling  teams  are  much  more  than  com- 
pensated by  the  irregular  employment,  at  marling,  of  the  ploughing 
teams  at  what  would  otherwise  be  their  idle  or  leisure  times. 
There  is  much  convenience  and  gain  in  having  labour  thus  to  be 
exchanged.  At  the  pressing  seasons  of  harvesting,  fallowing,  for 
seeding  and  thrashing  wheat,  the  regular  farm  force  is  insufficient, 
and  no  supply  of  extra  force  can  be  hired.  Then  the  other  force 
kept  for  marling  becomes  an  important  aid,  and  is  worth  much 
more  than  the  cost,  or  than  the  marling  labours  thereby  postponed. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  regular  carrying  on  of  marling  operations 
by  an  extra  force  so  applied,  enables  the  farmer  to  increase  it  at 
any  leisure  time,  by  any  surplus  force,  of  hands  or  teams  necessarily 
kept  for  farm  labour ;  and  whose  surplus  or  spare  time,  for  short 
intervals,  could  not  otherwise  be  put  to  any  profitable  use.  In  the 
one  case,  force  that  would  be  cheaply  hired  at  double  of  average 
price  of  hires,  is  obtained  for  the  lowest  rates  ;  and  in  the  other, 
for  no  more  than  the  cost  of  maintenance.  Without  both  these 
reciprocal  aids  thus  exchanged,  I  am  sure  that  my  wheat  crop  would 
necessarily  be  curtailed  by  one-sixth,  and  my  marling  by  more 
than  one-half. 

The  statement  to  be  here  offered  of  a  connected  portion  of  the 
marling  labours  of  1S44,  will  be  of  what  was  actually  done,  under 
the  then  existing  circumstances,  and  with  the  then  defective  mode 
of  working — and  not  of  what  might  have  been  done  with  better 


336  DETAILS   OF   OPERATIONS. 

appliances  and  more  experience,  or  with  such  improvements  of 
operations  as  I  have  since  introduced. 

The  distances  from  the  pit  were  accurately  measured ;  except 
for  inconsiderable  and  daily  variations  from,  or  extensions  of  known 
distances,  which  were  estimated  by  the  less  exact  measure  of  my 
stepping.  For  every  new  route,  and  every  considerable  alteration, 
the  measuring  tape  was  used.  The  contents  of  the  cart-bodies  were 
ascertained  both  by  cubic  measurement  and  by  the  heaped  half- 
bushels  of  marl  which  could  be  put  in.  After  enough  of  such  trials 
had  been  made  for  fixing  an  average,  each  cart-load,  accord- 
ing to  its  being  filled  even,  or  slightly  heaped,  or  fully  heaped 
(which  variations  might  be  required  by  different  conditions  of 
teams,  marl,  or  roads),  was  respectively  taken  as  the  measure  of  a 
stated  number  of  bushels. 

Single  mule  carts  were  used  this  year,  which  was  one  of  the 

errors  afterwards  abandoned.     The  loads  of  the  one  mule  whose 

work  will  be  separately  stated,  was  at  first  made  8  heaped  bushels, 

afterwards  increased  to  8  J.     Her  driver  was  a  boy  of  15  years  old. 

Two  other  mules  which  were  generally  but  not  regularly  hauling 

marl  during  the  same  time,  were  driven,  one  by  a  boy,  and  the 

other  by  a  girl,  neither  driver  exceeding  13  years  old.     Tasks  were 

^assigned  to  each  mule  cart.     Marling  is  the  only  kind   of  farm 

f  labour  that  I  ever  could  have  performed  advantageously  by  task- 

■  work.      For  this,   tasks  were  found  very  advantageous;  and   no 

other  work  which  has  been  under  my  direction  has  been  executed 

so  faithfully,  or  with  so  little  superintendence  or  difficulty.     This 

peculiar  adaptation  to  task-work  is  owing  to  the  uniformity  of  the 

labours,  when  conducted  on  a  regular  plan  of  operations. 

The  maid  was  very  generally  free  from  all  extraneous  water. 
Though  moist  in  its  bed,  and  when  dug,  it  is  as  little  so  as  any 
highly  absorbent  earth  could  be,  if  in  like  manner  covered  by  wet 
and  water-soaked  clay.  The  marl,  just  after  being  dug,  weighs  105 
lbs.  to  the  heaped  bushel.  If  allowed  to  become  wetter,  its  weight 
is  much  increased.  I  found,  by  trial,  that  a  bushel  of  this  marl, 
as  moist  as  when  dug,  would  absorb  two  gallons  more  of  water  (16 
lbs.),  without  being  so  surcharged  that  any  would  drip  away.  Yet 
many  of  those  persons  who  work  marl  having  springs  oozing  out 
above,  allow  so  much  water  to  have  access,  as  to  add  much  more 
than  16  lbs.  to  the  weight  of  the  bushel  of  marl,  and  to  increase 
the  labours  of  shovelling  and  loading  in  still  greater  proportion. 

The  degree  of  inclination  of  the  surface  of  the  land  on  which 
marl  is  carted,  and  its  being  rough  or  smooth,  soft  or  firm,  all  have 
important  influence  on  the  labour  of  marling.  The  land  to  which 
mine  was  then  applied,  as  well  as  all  over  which  the  routes  passed, 
was  part  of  the  broad  flats  bordering  on  the  Pamunkey.  The  very 
gradual  ascent  from   the  margin  of  the  pit  (where  the  marl  was 


CONDITIONS   OP   THE  LABOURS.  337 

thrown  up,  ready  for  filling  the  carts),  was  not  more  than  10  feet 
of  perpendicular  height,  to  the  highest  summit ;  after  which,  the 
routes  to  all  the  different  places  of  deposit  pass  over  slight  and 
gradual  undulations  of  surface,  as  much  descending  as  ascending, 
and  which  variations  of  level,  in  their  extremes,  scarcely  exceed  6 
feet.  So  level  a  way  is  of  course  a  great  advantage,  and  enables 
me  to  carry  much  heavier  loads  than  on  the  high  and  hilly  lands 
which  I  formerly  marled  elsewhere.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  this 
almost  level  surface  requires  the  land  everywhere  to  be  ridged ; 
and  the  water  furrows  (or  deep  alleys),  and  the  many  deeper 
cross  "  grips"  (or  very  narrow  and  shallow  ditches),  together  pre- 
sent greater  obstacles  to  the  passage  of  carts  over  the  fields,  than 
would  be  found  with  much  more  of  ascent  and  inequality  of  sur- 
face, but  with  smooth  tillage.  Another  disadvantage,  suffered  then, 
and  generally  for  some  years  after  on  nearly  all  my  land,  was,  that 
as  it  had  not  been  recently  grazed  and  trodden  by  cattle,  the  soil 
was  not  firm,  but  puffy  and  soft;  and  therefore,  even  when  dry,  and 
still  more  when  wet,  this  soft  soil  greatly  increased  the  labour  of 
carting  on  the  fields. 

The  marl  contains,  on  the  average,  38  to  40  per  cent,  of  carbo- 
nate of  lime.  It  was  applied  at  about  350  bushels  to  the  acre — in 
heaps,  11  yards  each  way4  of  the  whole  load  of  a  single  mule,  or 
half  the  load  of  two  mules,  or  two  oxen. 

After  all  these  matters  of  preliminary  explanation,  I  will  now 
present  the  particular  statement  designed,  showing  for  an  entire 
job  of  61  consecutive  working  days,  the  daily  travel,  and  number 
and  amount  of  loads  of  a  single  mule;  and  also  the  total  quantity 
of  marl  dug  for  and  carried  out  by  other  and  less  regular  teams, 
whose  work,  though  noted  separately,  it  is  not  necessary  to  give 
more  particularly  in  this  abstract  from  the  fuller  record  in  my 
farm  journal.  The  work  stated  in  the  following  table  comprised 
all  the  marl  of  the  ranges  A  and  B,  and  a  large  part  of  the  next 
and  wider  range  C. 

29 


333 


ACTUAL   MARLING    LABOURS. 


HAILIN 

;  by  one  Mri.i:. 

|  Whole  Work. 

• 

^Y^lole  day's  journey. 

■  - 

Days. 

5 

LI 

(2  = 

- 

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Sdwx?.^-^  - 

deluding  UijOancesto 
nd  from  stable. 

c 

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t£    t- 

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Mile?.  Yards. 

Jane  88 

12 

tt        I 

:::       2 

asox* 

25. 

2 

310 

«      09 

12 

■ 

■ 

■ 

25 

■ 

308 

Monday, 

July    1 

[•11** 

H 

u 

■ 

22.1740 

" 

302 

••       B 

12 

■ 

m 

u 

25. 

" 

304 

«       3 

12 

■ 

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" 

25. 

" 

310 

«       4 

12 

u 

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" 

25. 

" 

346 

"        5 

12 

Q 

1835 

296 

25.  9^4 

" 

346 

"       6 

11 

■ 

1866 

274 

23.1576 

" 

316 

M.        "       8 

11 

■ 

1883 

208 

24.    18 

« 

316 

«       9 

10 

■ 

2245 

none. 

25.  900 

" 

272 

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■ 

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15.1510 

" 

154 

«     11 

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274 

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none. 

25.  900 

* 

246 

"     13 

20 

" 

965 

1005 

24.  380 

274 

M.        "     15 

20 

u 

915 

955 

22JG00 

" 

274 

"     16 

20 

" 

" 

" 

22.1600 

" 

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■     IT 

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S3.  900 

274 

«     IS 

20 

" 

963 

u 

24.  100 

3 

354 

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" 

24.  420 

" 

402 

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4 

334 

ESTIMATES  OP  MARLINCJ  lABOTTRS.  53D 

REMARKS. 

*  The  numbers  marked  thus  (*)  are  short  of  full  clay's  work,  for  causes 
to  be  stated. 

**  July  1,  one  load,  or  one-twelfth  of  the  task,  lost  by  rain. 

*f  July  10,  rain  prevented  3  loads,  or  three-tenths  of  the  task. 

f  Jttly  11.  full  but  irregular  work  at  another  place,  and  distances  not  as- 
certained— the  ordinary  road  being  too  wet  to  use. 

*|  July  20;  ^ped  at  12  o'clock  for  half  holiday— 8-20ths  of  full  day's 
work  wanting. 

+f  July  23,  rain  caused  loss  of  3  loads,  or  3-20ths  of  task. 

J.  July  24,  a  load  too  much,  by  mistake. 

*a  A  good  rain  in  afternoon — 2  loads  (2-15ths)  lost.  Next  day  (27th) 
earth  too  wet  for  marling,  and  the  mules  at  the  harder  work  of  ploughing 
for  wly?at. 

*b  Aug.  2,  rain  caused  loss  of  2  loads,  or  2-16ths  of  task. 

*c  Aug.  31,  stopped  at  12  o'clock  for  half  holiday,  8  loads,  or  8-18ths 
wanted  of  full  day's  work. 

*d  Sept.  11,  rain,  after  long  drought,  stopped  all  work  at  4  P.  M.  Next 
day  more  and  heavy  rain,  and  this  mule,  and  all  others  fit,  put  to  plough- 
ing for  wheat.  For  two  weeks  previous  to  these  rains,  the  ground  had 
been  excessively  dry,  so  that  the  road,  and  tracks  across  the  fields,  which 
were  constantly  travelled  over,  were  so  deep  in  fine  dust  that  it  was  very 
unpleasant,  and  even  an  impediment  to  the  teams. 

The  foregoing  table  gives  the  following  results  : — 
The  mule,  whose  work  is  stated  separately,  in  65  consecutive 
days,  omitting  the  Sundays  only,  travelled  in  marling  labour  1572 
miles  and  408  yards.  Of  these  65  days,  1  (July  27th),  the  teams 
were  at  other  labour.  One  other  day  (July  11),  of  full  but  not 
measured  marling  labour,  being  estimated  and  added  in  at  the 
general  average,  and  of  8  other  days,*  of  which  the  work  was  bro- 
ken by  rains,  the  idle  parts  being  deducted,  leave  62  £  of  full  work- 
ing days  of  hauling  marl.  This  makes  the  daily  average  travel  of 
the  mule  25  miles  and  138  yards,  including  the  distances  from  the 
stable  and  back. 

The  whole  number  of  loads  actually  carried  out  by  the  one  mule 
was  965;  the  average  load,  in  heaped  bushels,  8.095,  weighing  105 
lbs.  to  the  bushel,  and  850  lbs.  the  load.  The  average  number  of 
loads  daily  (for  full  day's  work),  was  15.4 ;  and  the  average  travel 
for  each  load,  2867.4  yards. 

The  quantity  of  marl  carried  out  in  62£  full  days'  work,  7803 
bushels;  which  makes  the  daily  average  quantity  carried,  124.85 
bushels. 

And  as  to  the  general  operations  of  all  the  force  employed — 
The  whole  quantity  of  marl  dug,  and  carried  out  by  all  the 
teams,  in  this  time,  26,271  bushels. 

*  The  parts  of  the  8i  days  lost  by  rain  or  otherwise,  amounted  in  time 
to  much  more  than  l.V  days.  But  the  loss  in  work  was  no  more,  because 
in  every  such  interruption,  the  hauling,  or  task-work  for  the  day,  was  in 
advance  of  the  hour  when  operations  were  suspended. 


840  ESTIMATES   OF   MARLING   LABOURS. 

The  whole  digging  and  throwing  out  of  the  marl,  and  assisting 
the  drivers  generally  to  load  (which  assistance  by  one  of  the  pit- 
men was  required  always,  but  not  always  given  to  all  of  the  extra 
teams),  was  equal  to  177  days'  labour  of  a  single  pit-man;  which 
makes  the  average  quantity  of  marl,  dug,  thrown  out,  and  partly  also 
loaded,  for  each  pit-man,  142.42  bushels.  • 

So  much  for  the  labours  actually  performed.  I  shflN  now  proceed 
to  estimate  their  cost.  For  this  purpose,  the  different  kinds  of  labour 
will  be  charged  at  the  prices  stated  in  the  previous  chapter. 

Estimate  of  the  cost  of  Marling. 

Carting. — The  mule  per  working  day,  cents,     .     .  26.75 

Her  driver,  (boy  of  15  years,)  cents,  22 

Cart  and  gear,  suppose,  cents,       .     .     .  5.50 

For  daily  work,  an  average  of  124.85  bushels,        .     54.25 

Or,  for  the  100  bushels,  cents, 44.26 

Digging  and  assisting  to  load. — Pit-man,  per  day, 

cents,         34 

His  share  of  tools,  suppose,  cents,        4.50* 

For  his  average  daily  work,  of  148.42  bushels,       .     38.50 

Or,  for  the  100  bushels,        26. 

Throwing  off  overlay  of  earth  to  uncover  marl  (its 
thickness  compared  to  that  of  the  marl  about  in 
proportion  of  3  to  5),  supposed  to  be  one-half  the 
labour  of  pit-work  of  the  marl  below ;  or  per  100 
bushels  of  marl  dug,  13. 

Sjveadiiig  marl  (340  bushels  to  the  acre,)  per  100 

bushels,         flO. 

Total  cost  of  applying  100  bushels, 93.26 

*  This  charge  includes  all  the  use  of  tools  for  as  much  marl  as  one  pit- 
man supplies  in  a  day,  not  only  for  his  own  digging  and  throwing  up,  but 
also  for  the  loading  and  subsequent  spreading  of  the  same  marl. 

•j-  The  spreading  of  this  marl  requires  very  unequal  labour  according  to 
its  condition.  When  recently  carried  out,  and  still  moist,  and  much  of  it 
in  firm  lumps — or  otherwise,  after  mouldering  by  exposure,  and  then  being 
saturated  by  rain-water — it  is  twice  as  difficult  to  spread  as  after  being  left 
in  heaps  for  some  months  of  summer  weather,  or  until  dry  after  being  fro- 
zen. When  in  good  order,  a  man  can  easily  spread  60  heaps  of  8  to  9 
bushels,  at  11  yards  distance.  When  but  in  tolerable  order,  and  in  winter 
days,  I  have  had  50  such  heaps  spread  by  good  hands ;  and  when  in  bad 
order,  barely  40  heaps.  Thinner  dressings,  or  more  distant  heaps,  would 
require  more  labour  for  spreading,  in  proportion  to  the  quantity.  The 
charge  above,  a  man  (at  34  cents  a  day)  is  allowed  to  spread  per  day  no 
more  than  40  heaps,  of  8|  bushels  to  the  acre.  This  is  very  light  work, 
unless  the  marl  is  in  bad  condition. 


SUMMER   AND   WINTER   MARLING.  341 

Small  as  is  this  cost  for  a  durable  manuring,  it  far  exceeds  what 
would  be  required  on  most  farms  possessing  marl-beds.  In  many 
localities  iu  Virginia  marl  may  be  uncovered,  excavated,  and  car- 
ried to  the  field  for  one-half  of  my  expenses  for  the  same;  and  in 
some  cases  in  Virginia,  and  in  numerous  situations  in  South  Caro- 
lina, the  necessary  expenses  would  scarcely  be  more  than  a  fourth 
of  mine.  The  spreading  is  not  included  in  this  comparison,  as  its 
cost  has  no  relation  to  the  greater  or  less  cost  of  the  other  labours. 
The  obstacles  to  ray  operations  were  unusually  great — in  the  soft 
and  adhesive  overlying  clay — the  numerous  small  springs  necessary 
to  be  diverted — the  liability  of  the  loose  sand  above  to  be  washed 
down  by  rains — the  low  level  of  the  marl  compared  to  the  sur- 
rounding land — and  the  great  distance  from  the  pit  to  the  field. 
But  whether  the  difficulties  of  other  marlings  be  greater  or  less  than 
mine,  their  costs  may  be  estimated  by  my  rules  and  prices,  with 
due  regard  paid  to  difference  of  circumstances.  Before,  however, 
making  such  application,  regard  should  be  paid  to  the  improved 
processes  and  reductions  of  expense  in  my  subsequent  operations, 
which  will  presently  be  stated. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  objected  to  the  foregoing  statements  and 
estimates,  that  the  work  was  done  in  the  long  days  of  summer,  and 
in  dry  weather,  when  there  would  be  the  least  obstruction  to,  or 
loss  of  labour  from  bad  weather  and  bad  roads.  And  I  will  admit 
further,  that  the  expense  incurred  was  not  increased  by  sickness  of 
any  one  of  the  regular  marling  hands,  nor  by  any  other  important 
loss  in  labour  or  materials.  All  these  would  be  good  grounds  for 
objection,  if  no  allowances  had  been  made  for  average  losses  on 
these  scores.  But,  in  the  general  estimates  of  the  cost  of  labour, 
there  were  made  the  ample  allowances  of  80  days'  labour  of  the 
year  lost  on  the  average  by  each  man  and  boy,  by  bad  weather, 
sickness,  and  half  holidays  (besides  the  58  of  Sundays  and  regular 
holidays),  and  40  days  for  each  mule;  and  also  enough  for  wear 
and  breakage  of  carts  and  utensils.  Therefore  the  proper  propor" 
tion  of  these  losses  is  in  fact  fully  charged  in  the  estimate,  though 
scarcely  any  of  such  losses  occurred. 

It  is  true  that  winter  marling  would  be  much  more  costly,  owing 
to  the  then  generally  muddy  or  slightly  frozen  and  rough  roads. 
*  And  therefore  during  that  season,  and  when  the  earth  is  wet  and 
soft,  it  will  be  generally  better  to  suspend  marling  labours,  if  the 
teams  can  be  employed  at  other,  easier,  and  as  necessary  work.  My 
marling,  however,, was  not  thus  suspended.  For  the  extra  expense 
of  the  more  disadvantageous  and  costly  winter  marling  was  deemed 
of  less  amount  than  would  be  lost  in  the  difference  of  productive 
value  of  land  marled,  and  the  same  if  left  unmarled.  Thus  it  is 
cheaper  to  pay  §4  an  acre,  for  marling  a  field  before  taking  its  crop 
from  it  for  that  year,  than  to  take  the  crop  first,  and  afterwards 
29* 


342  GRADUATED   PITS. 

marl  it  for  82.  Ami,  therefore,  deeming  ike  omieuon  or  delay  of 
marling  to  be  by   far  the.  mo.--  i   regard  to  th-e 

operation^  I  marled  even  in  unsuitable   -  ■  as  to  avoid  the 

necessity  of  ever  again  bearing  the  much  heavier  loss  of  cultivating 
any  unmarled  ground. 

Excavating  Marl  in  large  graduated  pits 

The  excavation  of  the  range  of  perpendicular  pits  C  (Fig.  II. ), 
was  finished  in  April,  1*45.  The  marl  carried  out  from  that  and 
the  two  previously  worked  ranges,  A  and  B,  amounted  to  71,541 
heaped  bushels — according  to  the  number  of  loads  counted  on  the 
fields,  and  their  estimated  quantities.  Previous  to  beginning  to 
work  at  this  digging,  there  had  been  carried  out  from  another,  not 
far  off;  26,600  bushels,  from  January  24th,  1S44,  to  June  28th, 
the  time  of  beginning  the  second  excavation.  Of  the  earlier  job, 
it  is  enough  to  say  that  it  was  very  laborious,  owing  to  the  overlay 
to  remove,  of  7  to  8  feet,  which  was  double  the  thickness  of  the 
marl  below.  This,  my  first  excavation  here,  was  worked  upon  the 
plan  I  had  used  elsewhere ;  the  carts  descending  by  a  gently  graded 
slope  to  the  bottom  of  the  marl.  But  every  considerable  rain  caused 
the  loose  sand  and  gravel  to  fall  in  and  choke  the  small  drain  cut 
around  on  the  top  of  the  marl,  and  then  the  spring  and  rain  water 
flooded  the  pit  5  the  bottom  of  the  digging  (when  deep )  being  lower 
than  any  outlet  for  the  water.  The  many  such  disasters  which 
were  suffered  and  repaired,  and  the  consequent  losses  of  time  and 
labour,  induced  me,  for  the  next  work,  to  pursue  the  more  laborious, 
but  less  hazardous  plan  of  excavating  by  small  perpendicular  pits, 
as  described  in  the  foregoing  pages.  But  after  thus  working  out 
the  ranges  A,  B,  and  C,  I  thought  that  with  my  then  better  expe- 
rience, and  by  using  better  safeguards  thas  before,  I  might  venture 
to  return  to  the  plan  of  graduated  excavations.  With  this  inten- 
tion, the  range  D  (Fig.  II.),  had  been  laid  off,  and  cleared  of  its 
overlay,  during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1845,  at  my  leisure  and 
convenience,  while  the  latter  excavations  of  the  range  C  were  still 
in  progress.  The  same  plan  has  been  since  continued,  with  im- 
provements, fur  the  successive  and  adjacent  ranges,  E,  F,  and  Gr, 
which  last  is  not  quite  exhausted  of  its  marl,  at  this  time  ^October 
1849),  aud  another  range,  H,-has  nearly  been  cleared  of  its  over- 
lay, and  made  ready  for  its  excavation  to  be  begun.  It  will  be 
unnecessary  to  keep  separate  the  incidents  of  these  different  large 
workings,  when  referring  to  such  processes  as  may  be  deemed  worth 
being  mentioned.  The  natural  features  continued  the  same  as  to 
the  marl,  and  also  of  the  overlay,  excepting  its  increasing  in  thick- 
ness, as  the  distance  from  the  stream  was  extended.  The  different 
means  used  for  saving  labour  were  mostly  adopted  in  the  working 


REMOVING    OVERLAY.  3-43 

of  the  first  graduated  range,  D,  in  1845 ;  but  some  of  them  were 
introduced  more  recently. 

The  range  D  (Fig.  II.),  when  completely  uncovered  and  ready  for 
the  carts  to  descend  into,  and  to  be  loaded  on  the  surface  of  the 
marl,  was  20  feet  wide,  including  the  space  for  the  narrow  drain 
along  its  land-side  (c,  d,  e,  e,)  for  the  greater  part  of  its  length — 
narrower  at  the  angle  (t)  and  then  widened  to  26  feet  at  lower  end, 
to  give  room  for  a  wagon  to  turn.  The  whole  length  was  255  feet ; 
but  of  this,  90  at  the  upper  end  (c,  d)  had  but  half  the  overlay 
removed  at  first;  the  earth  being  left  in  an  inclined  plane,  sloping 
downward  from  tbc  road  (yy)  on  the  surface  of  the  land,  to 
the  surface  of  the  uncovered  marl.  The  thickness  of  the  overlay 
here  having  been  5  feet,  the  graded  road  served  to  rise  that  height 
in  96  feet  of  the  slope.  The  same  grade  was  not  exceeded  in  ex- 
cavating the  marl ;  and  it  would  have  served  to  descend,  if  required, 
two  feet  lower  than  the  usual  level  of  the  bottom  of  the  marl,  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  digging.  The  digging  and  removal  of  the 
marl  was  begun  at  the  lower  end  (/,  e,  x)  and  carried  on  in  succes- 
sive layers ;  but  always  keeping  the  floor  of  the  pit  sloping  down- 
ward towards  the  lowest  end  (x),  and  also  laterally  towards  the 
land-side  (<?,  e).  At  the  lower  end  was  a  short,  narrow  ditch 
(e,  x,)  serving  as  an  outlet  into  the  stream,  which  had  been  deep- 
ened so  as  to  be  lower  than  the  lowest  designed  digging.  Thus, 
whatever  water  might  get  into  the  digging,  from  rain-floods,  or 
from  the  side-drain  being  choked  by  caving  sand,  and  thereby  turn- 
ing in  the  spring-water,  it  would  necessarily  keep  to  the  lower  side, 
and  flow  out  at  the  lower  end  into  the  stream.  The  figures  II.,  III., 

-and  IV.,  show  severally  the  horizontal  plan,  and  the  longitudinal 
and  cross  sections,  or  profiles  of  the  work. 

The  first  improved  operation  adopted  was  in  removing  the  over- 
lay, by  using,  where  practicable  and  convenient,  the  plough  to 
loosen  the  earth,  and  the  scraper  (such  as  is  used  for  road-making) 
to  move  it  into  the  finished  ranges  of  pitting.  The  difference  be- 
tween these  and  the  former  modes  of  haud-labour,  with  hoes,  picks, 
and  shovels,  was  not  accm-ately  observed,  nor  could  it  be ;  as  these 
large  operations  were  extended  through  several  months  (and  more 
lately,  through  a  whole  year),  at  such  irregular  times  as  labour 
could  be  best  spared,  and  especially  when  previous  rain,  snow,  or 
freezing  had  put  a  stop  to  usual  farming  operations.     Any  farmer 

.  can  nearly  enough  estimate  the  superiority  of  ploughing  over  hoe- 
ing to  loosen  earth.  The  hoeing  would  certainly  cost  four  times, 
;uiil  perhaps  ten  times  as  much  as  ploughing.  The  scraper  is  also~V 
very  f.ir  cheaper  than  shovels,  for  removing  earth  to  all  distances 
lut  ween  30  and  40  feet.  For  short  distances,  for  which  one  throw 
of  the  shovel  is  enough,  the  latter  is  the  cheapest.  The  excavation 
by  plough  and  scraper  was  not  only,  as  anticipated,  much  easier 


siH; 


Fig.  III. 

Longiiudinal  Section  or  Profile  of  Graduated  Diggings  (at 
range  D,  in  Fig.  II.)  Scale  40  feet  to  inch. 


Explanations. 

a,  a,  Surface  of  ground,  and  level  of  highest  part  of  graded 
roadway. 

m,  m,  Overlying  earth,  6  feet  thick. 

n,  n,  Marl,  7  to  8  feet  thick. 

*,  t,  Green-sand  earth,  of  unknown  thickness. 

a,  o,  r,  Roadway,  descending  6  feet  in  96,  from  surface  of 
land  a,  to  bottom  of  marl,  r. 

v,  v,  v,  Successive  perpendicular  excavations,  beginning  at  r, 
made  after  digging  down  to  the  inclined  plane,  o,  r. 

n,  o,  Marl  either  excavated  like  v,  v,  or  subsequently  by  a  re- 
versed direction  of  descending  grade. 


S     <? 


Fig.  IV. 


Cross  Section  or  Profile  of  Graduated  Diggings'  (a3 
of  range  G,  in  Fig.  II.)  Scale  20  feet  to  inch. 


Explanations. 

a,  a,  Surface  of  ground  (and  overlay  of  next  range 
to  be  uncovered.) 

d,  d,  Former  extension  of  surface,  now  removed. 

m,  Overlying  earth,  here  7  feet  thick. 

n,  Marl,  8  feet  thick. 

*,  s,  s,  Green-sand  earth. 

G,  The  bed  of  marl,  here  removed  from  its  original 
height,  the  dotted  line  next  above  G  i,  to  the  line 
below— and  the  lower  part,  w,  t,  still  to  be  remo- 
ved, to  the  bottom,  at  s. 

i,  Small  drain,  to  intercept  and  lead  off  the  springs 
coming  out  of  m. 

t,  Lowest  graded  side,  or  drain,  to  receive  and  dis- 
charge accidental  floods  into  the  stream. 

o,  Wall  of  marl,  left  to  be  last  dug  out,  to  keep  out 

the  water  and  earth  from 
g,  p,  k,  Successive  fillings  of  previous  excavations,  by 
the  overlay  removed  from  the  next  uncovered. 


(345) 


o4G  REMOVING    OVERLAY. 

where  the  overlay  was  dry  and  sandy,  but  also  lower  down  in  the 
wet  springy  gravel,  often  indurated  by  ferruginous  cement ;  and 
even  to  some  extent,  in  the  wet,  miry,  and  sticky  clay  still  lower. 
Difficult  as  was  this  lowest  part  of  the  uncovering,  in  every  mode, 
the  scraper  took  up  the  clay,  and  let  it  drop  because  of  the  weight 
of  the  muss,  much  better  than  any  hand  utensils.  In  this,  the 
plough  was  uot  needed,  nor  could  the  scraper  be  used  much,  because 
the  feet  of  the  horses  sank  through  both  the  miry  clay  and  the 
upper  thin  layer  of  soft  marl  (Fig.  I.),  and  would  have  worked  up 
both  together.  # 

But  the  plough  and  scraper  could  not  serve  for  all  the  overlay. 
Not  only  for  the  miry  clay  layer,  but  for  much  of  the  other  over- 
lay, either  because  of  its  texture,  or  its  place,  it  was  still  cheapest 
to  remove  by  hand  implements,  as  previously;  and  especially  for 
giving  the  final  shaping  to  the  opening.  If  the  job  had  been  con- 
tinuous anl  regular,  ani  the  labourers  all  able  men,  it  would  pro- 
bably have  been  cheaper  to  remove  the  whole  overlay  at  once  in 
wheel-barrows,  in  the  manner  of  excavating  for  canals  and  railroads. 
As  it  was  executed,  the  saving  of  labour  in  removing  the  overlay 
was  fully  one-half  of  the  former  cost. 

To  return  to  my  actual  labours.  As  soon  as  the  wet  gravel 
(Fig.  I.)  was  laid  naked,  the  land-side  outline  of  the  range  was 
marked  off,  and  a  narrow  ditch  (c,  d,  e,  e,  x,  Fig.  II.)  dug  along 
it  down  to  the  marl,  intercepting  the  numerous  small  springs,  and 
conveying  the  water  into  the  stream  (at  c,  x,  Fig.  II.).  After  re- 
maining thus  drained  for  some  weeks,  the  clay,  though  still  miry 
and  sticky,  is  worked  much  more  easily ;  and  in  later  operations, 
has  been  mostly  removed  in  carts,  which  were  drawn  upon  the  then 
partly  excavated  and  firm  marl.  The  scrapers'  work  had  pre- 
viously served  to  fill  the  sinks  and  pools  in  the  older  ranges,  with 
dry  sand  and  gravel ;  forming  a  drained,  firm,  and  nearly  level  sur- 
face, on  which  the  carts  carried  and  dropped  the  remaining  clay 
overlay. 

The  design  of  the  plan  of  operations  was  to  have  the  carts  to 
descend  upon  the  marl,  and  to  draw  loads  ultimately  from  the 
lowest  digging.  For  this  purpose,  as  has  been  stated,  part  of  the 
overlay  had  been  left  on  the  upper  end  of  the  range  (a,  to,  o,  Fig. 
III.),  forming  a  sloping  roadway  for  96  feet  of  length,  and  rising 
5  feet  in  that  distance,  from  the  marl  to  the  road  on  the  surface 
of  the  land.  A  few  yards  of  "poling"  over  the  soft  clay  bottom 
layer  served  to  make  a  firm  passage  from  the  marl  to  the  dry 
sandy  earth.  The  marl,  except  its  upper  6  inches,  was  at  first 
firm  enough  for  the  loaded  carts;  and  soon  became  dryer  and  firmer 
in  drying.  The  slope,  given  by  the  digging  and  removal  of  the 
marl,  descending  always  to  one  side  and  to  the  lower  end,  where 
there    was  a  discharging   outlet   into   the   stream   for   all  water, 


ADVANTAGES  OF  GRADUATED  PITS.  347 

served  to  keep  the  marl  as  dry  as  was  possible  for  a  naturally  moist 
and  extremely  absorbent  bed.  Tbis  preservation  from  all  extra- 
neous water,  as  well  as  losing  some  of  its  own  by  exposure,  rendered 
the  marl  easier  to  dig  and  to  load,  and  something  lighter  of  car- 
riage. 

Further — the  digging  was  no  longer  impeded  by  the  necessity 
of  having  to  leave,  shape,  and  secure  cross-walls,  which  had  before 
caused  much  trouble,  and  much  loss  of  marl.  Now  there  there  was 
but  one  wall  to  be  left,  which  was  along  the  whole  length  (o,  Fig. 
IV.),  to  keep  out  the  earth  and  water  which  filled  the  old  diggings ; 
which  wall  was  afterwards  cut  down,  and  mostly  saved,  in  the 
closing  operations  of  each  range,  in  succession.  The  unlimited 
room  for  their  work  permitted  the  pit-men  to  dig  the  marl  in  much 
larger  masses,  which  saved  much  of  the  labour  of  digging,  and 
something  in  that  of  loading.  For  the  earthy  portion  of  this  marl, 
compact  as  it  is,  is  composed  of  thin  horizontal  laminse,  the  result 
of  slow  and  uniform  sedimentary  deposition.  In  consequence,  it 
may  be  cleaved  in  the  direction  of  its  "  grain"  much  more  easily 
than  cut  or  fractured  in  any  other  direction.  This  facility  is  best 
availed  of  when  a  wide  area  is  worked;  and  not  in  small  pits,  con- 
fined by  perpendicular  sides.  The  shovelling  was  also  much  easier — ■ 
first,  because  the  marl  was  more  in  large  lumps,  and  less  in  a  finely 
reduced  state  than  before ;  and  secondly  and  mainly,  because  the 
height  of  the  cart  was  the  greatest  extent  to  which  it  had  to  bo 
thrown,  instead  of  double  throwing,  as  before,  and  the  throw  out 
of  the  pit,  which  at  the  maximum,  was  13  feet  in  height,  besides 
the  lateral  distance.  This  change,  taking  away  all  the  throwing 
out  of  the  pit,  saved  much  more  than  one-half  of  the  pit  labour. 
The  average  quantity  of  marl  obtained  before  from  each  pit-man's 
daily  labour  was  148.42  bushels.  Now,  one  man  only  was  usually 
employed,  who  dug  for  the  carts  from  400  to  600  bushels  a  day. 
It  is  true,  that  he  was  now  relieved  from  assisting  to  load,  which 
work  was  put  upon  the  drivers.  In  the  closing  operations  of  the 
digging,  when  small  pits  still  had  to  be  sunk,  and  through  tho 
bottom  stony  layer,  and  the  marl  from  them  thrown  up  on  the 
sloping  roadway,  and  walls  to  cut  down,  the  result  of  the  pit-man's 
work  was  much  less.  But  even  then,  when  the  difficulty  was 
greatest,  the  least  amount  of  marl  obtained  was  160  bushels  for 
each  man  in  the  pit.  It  is  certain,  that  throughout  the  whole  ex- 
cavation of  the  range,  the  pit-man's  labour  furnished  on  the  ave- 
rage more  than  twice  the  quantity  of  marl.  This  part  of  the  cost 
then  also  was  reduced  fully  one-half.  But  this  is  in  advance  of 
describing  the  later  of  the  operations  of  which  the  cost  was  so  re- 
duced. • 

The  digging  down  and  removing  the  marl  in  the  pit  to  the  grade 
of  5  to  6  feet  depression  in  the  100  of  length,  served  to  reach  the 


3-48  MANNER  OF   EXCAVATION. 

bottom  green -earth,  and  leave  it  naked,  for  the  extent  of  some  70  or 
80  feet  length  of  the  lower  end  of  the  range  (r,  in  Fig.  III.).  This 
completing  of  the  excavation  through  the  lowest  marl  was  begun 
at  the  lower  end,  where  is  the  outlet  for  water  from  the  pit.  And 
as  soon  as  each  successive  few  yards  in  length  had  been  so  deepened 
to  the  bottom,  the  side-wall  of  marl  was  cut  down,  and  its  marl 
mostly  saved.  Then,  indeed,  the  earth,  which  this  wall  had  been 
left  as  a  barrier  to  keep  out,  fell  in,  and  more  or  less  of  the  old  con- 
fined water  beneath  the  earth  flowed  in  also,  from  the  old  diggings. 
But  this  now  did  no  harm.  The  bottom  (gVeen-earth)  where  the 
caving  earth  fell,  and  the  water  overflowed,  was  not  needed ;  and 
the  water,  after  rising  a  few  inches  thereupon,  passed  off  through 
the  outlet  into  the  stream.  The  next  few  yards  length  of  bottom 
marl  was  then  removed,  and  then  its  part  of  the  side-wall  taken 
down  in  like  manner,  until  the  whole  lower  70  or  80  feet  (z,  r, 
in  Fig.  III.)  had  been  taken  out,  including  its  adjoining  side-wall. 
Next^the  lowest  part  of  the  sloping  roadway  of  marl  (<;,  r,  Fig. 
III.)  was  dug  out,  the  carts  turning  and  loading  on  the  adjoining 
space  next  above,  which  also  was  next  dug  out.  Thus,  the  whole 
slope  of  marl  was  dug  out  in  the  manner  of  successive  perpendicu- 
lar pits  (Vj  v,  v,  &c),  each  of  the  full  width  of  the  range,  and  6 
or  8  feet  in  the  direction  of  the  range.  The  first  or  lowest  of  these 
perpendicular  diggings  was  not  a  foot  deep  at  the  upper  side.  Each 
increased  in  thickness,  until  the  last  and  highest  (o,  Fig.  III.)  at  be- 
ginning of  the  slope  of  the  overlay  forming  the  road,  was  8  feet  thick. 
Still,  though  this  digging  was  according  to  the  former  mode,  by 
perpendicular  pits,  this  operation  was  much  less  laborious ;  as  the 
throwing  up  of  the  marl  varied  in  height  from  less  than  one  foot, 
to  at  most  but  8.  As  fast  as  each  of  these  pits  was  finished  to  the 
bottom,  the  adjoining  part  of  the  side-wall  (o,  Fig.  IV.)  was  cut 
down,  and  as  much  saved  as  was  not  prevented  by  the  coming  in 
of  earth  and  water. 

The  thinner  part  of  the  overlay  forming  the  slope  (m,  o,  Fig. 
III.)  was  next  thrown,  in  successive  uncoverings,  into  the  last 
finished  pits,  and  the  marl  below  in  like  manner  dug  out.  But 
when  the  thickness  of  this  earth  had  reached  some  3  feet,  and  about 
50  feet  of  the  length  remained,  this  remnant  was  left  to  be  taken 
out  with  the  next  succeeding  range  of  marl ;  when  carts,  by  having 
a  longer  route,  could  descend  on  this  part  of  the  marl  by  a  slope 
made  in  a  reverse  direction  (as  space  h  o  h,  in  ranges  E  and  F, 
Fig.  II.)  This  postponement  of  the  complete  uncovering  and  the 
digging  out  of  the  marl  of  the  upper  50  feet  of  each  range,  for  the 
benefit  of  more  easy  access  at  a  later  time,  has  been  since  continued. 
It  is  including  all  these  m<*e  costly  labours  with  the  principal  and 
usual  operation,  that  the  excavation  is  deemed  reduced  in  cost  fully 
one-half  of  that  of  the  former  mode. 


CAKTS    AND    TEAMS.  349 

The  labours  of  the  teams  and  their  drivers  were  slightly  increased 
by  the  change  of  plan.  The  carts  had  to  be  drawn  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  digging,  and  also,  for  a  large  part  of  the  time,  from  the 
bottom  of  the  bed  of  marl.  But  the  ascent  was  so  gradual,  and 
the  way  so  firm,  that  no  greater  effort  was  made  necessary  than 
many  of  the  obstructions  on  the  nearly  level  ground,  of  roads  or 
field,  encountered  afterwards.  The  drivers  also  had  now  to  put  in 
the  whole  of  their  loads,  instead  of  being  assisted  by  a  pit-man,  as 
previously.  But  because  of  the  greater  distances  in  1845,  and 
generally  since,  there  were  fewer  trips,  and  of  course  fewer  loads 
to  be  put  in  and  out,  which  kept  the  loading  labours  to  the  drivers 
nearly  the  same  in  general.  These  circumstances  then  added  no- 
thing to  the  former  cost  of  hauling  and  loading. 

Another  gain  was  made  in  increasing  the  loads  (by  heaping 
higher  in  the  carts),  from  the  heaviest  of  the  preceding  year  to  9 
bushels  for  the  single-mule  cart,  and  18  bushels  for  the  two-mule 
carts.  Of  the  latter,  one  was  now  regularly  worked,  and  two  others 
frequently,  and  found  to  be  much  preferable.  For  if  carrying  a 
double  quantity,  a  two-mule  cart  was  much  cheaper  than  double 
the  price  of  a  single-mule  cart;  and  also  was  cheaper  in  working, 
than  two  small  carts,  in  requiring  one  driver  instead  of  two-*- 
though  a  driver  of  more  ability  and  value.  The  increase  of  loads 
to  9  bushels  to  the  mule  (whether  in  single  or  double  carts,)  had 
been  made  in  April  1845,  and  has  been  maintained  since,  when- 
ever the  ground  was  firm,  and  the  road  good.  Particularly,  the 
marling  mules  continued  regularly  to  haul  these  loads  through  all 
the  time  when  so  engaged  that  year,  until  in  September,  when 
marling  was  suspended.  They  kept  in  excellent  condition ;  and 
better  than  I  have  ever  had  the  ploughing  teams  during  summer. 
The  average  day's  travel,  in  hauling  marl,  had  also  been  increased, 
for  weeks  together,  to  as  much  as  26  miles;  and  from  April  to 
September  was  not  less  than  an  average  of  25  miles.  Any  greater 
distance  was  not  desired ;  but  could  not  be  always  avoided,  when 
the  trips  were  very  long.  The  increasing  the  sizes  of  loads  made 
a  diminution  of  cost,  nearly  equal  to  one-ninth,  certainly  to  full 
one-tenth  of  the  previous  cost  of  transportation. 

The  values  of  the  several  diminutions  of  cost  of  labour  stated 
above  will  be  more  clearly  exhibited  by  comparative  statement  of 
the  expenses  in  1844,  before  presented,  and  those  of  1845. 

30 


350 


COSTS   OF  ACTUAL   MARLING   LABOURS. 


Total  cost  of  applying  marl,  per  100  bushels,  at  fhr  average  dis- 
tance of  1438  yards  from  pit  to  field ;  or  with  25  miles  and 
138  yards,  of  total  daily  travel. 


In  1844. 


In  1845. 


Cts. 
Labour  of  pit-man, 

for  100  bushels  .  20.00 
Carting  ....  44.26 
Throwing  off  overlay  13.00 
Spreading  marl  .     .    10.00 

Total  expense,  cents,  93.26 


Reduced  by 

Half,  or  . 
One-tenth 
One-half  . 


13.00 
4.42 
6.50 
0. 


Cents. 

Leaves  cost   .     .  13.00 

39.84 

6.66 

10.00 

Total  expense,  cts.  G9.34 
Former  cost     .     .  93.26 

Reduction  of  ex.  .  23.92 


From  all  those  detailed  premises  the  conclusion  has  been  reached 
that,  under  the  circumstances  stated,  or  others  not  of  greater  diffi- 
culty, the  total  cost  of  applying  marl  is  less  than  70  cents  for  tho 
hundred  bushels — (69.34).  The  circumstances,  and  the  elements 
of  ^?ost,  of  course  must  vary  with  every  locality,  and  even  frequently 
at  the  same  locality.  Nevertheless,  the  foregoing  estimates  and 
results  may  be  applied  to  any  other  operations,  with  due  allowances 
for  differences ;  and  thus  may  be  facilitated  the  calculations  of  tho 
amounts  and  the  costs  of  other  marling  operations. 

From  my  large  experience,  not  only  of  the  years  1844  and  5, 
but  since  to  the  present  time,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  ability 
of  carrying  1890  lbs.  (18  bushels)  of  marl  as  the  regular  loading 
of  a  two  mule  cart,  on  nearly  level  routes,  and  on  firm  ground  and 
good  roads ;  and  that  the  regular  and  continued  daily  travel  of 
the  carts,  from  pit  to  field  loaded,  and  returning  empty,  may  be 
25  miles  and  138  yards  each  day.  Upon  these  grounds,  it  will 
be  easy  to  calculate  the  cost  of  marling  at  any  greater  or  less  dis- 
tances than  the  average  of  mine  (2867  yards  from  pit  to  field  and 
back)  in  the  particularly  noted  trial  in  1844.  The  transportation 
is  usually  the  main  expense  of  marling.  This,  alone,  increases 
with  and  is  in  proportion  to  the  distance;  the  other  expenses  are 
,  not  affected  by  the  distance  of  carriage,  but  remain  in  proportion 
to  the  cpuantity  of  marl  carried  out,  under  like  circumstances. 
With  the  conditions  last  stated  (for  1845,  page  204),  my  expense 
for  carting  alone  of  100  bushels  of  marl,  in  trips  to  and  fro  of 
2867  yards  average  distance,  and  making  25  miles  and  138  yards 
of  total  travel  daily,' amounted  to  39.84  cents.  All  the  other  ex- 
penses of  applying  the  100  bushels  made  29.5  cents.  These  facts 
furnish  premises  upon  which  to  calculate  what  the  total  costs  would 
be  for  any  other  length  of  trips,  as  follows : 


COSTS   AT  DIFFERENT  DISTANCES. 


351 


Bushels. 
100 
1 
1 

100 


cost 


Carting  yards, 
to  and  fro. 

2867 

2867 

1760  (1  mile) 

1760 


Cents,  for 
carting. 

S9. 84 
0.3984 
0.2446 

24.46 


Cents,  for  all 
other  labours. 

and  29.5 


+29.5 
24.46 


Total  cost  of  100  bushels,  trips  of  1  mile  to  and  fro,  53.96 

Upon  these  grounds  the  following  table  is  constructed,  showing 
the  cost  ot  applying  100  bushels,  for  trips  to  and  fro  of  all  lengths 
from  1  mile  to  25;  or  of  distances  from  pit  to  field  of  half  the°ex- 
tent,  or  from  half  a  mile  to  12 J  miles;  if  there  is  no  extra  travel 
to  be  included. 


Length  of 
trip  to  and 
fro. 


Cost  of  carting  of  100 
bushels. 

(Cents.) 


Miles. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 


X  24.46 
X24.46 

X24.46 
X -24.46 
X24.46 
X  24.46 
X  24.46 
X  24.46 
X24.46 
X  24.46 
X24.46 
X24.46 
X  24.46 
X  24.46 
X24.46 
X24.46 
X  24.46 
X  24.46 
X24.46 
X24.46 
X24.46 
X  24.46 
<24.46 
X  24.46 
X24.46 


24.46 
48.92 
73.38 
97.84 
122.30 
146.76 
171.22 
195.68 
220.14 
244.60 
269.06 
293.52 
317.98 
342.44 
366.90 
391.36 
415.82 
440  28 
404.74 
489.20 
513.66 
538.12 
562.58 
587.04 
611.50 


Cost  of  all  other  labours. 


(Dents;) 


Uncoverins 
Pit  work 
Spreading 


Total  cost  of  TOO 
bushels  applied 
at  such  lengths 
of  travel. 
(Cents.) 


.       6.5 

.  13. 

.  10. 

+29^5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 
+29.5 


:  53.96 
:  78.43 
:  102.88 
127.34 
151.80 
176.26 
201.72 
225.18 
249.64 
274.10 
298.56 
323.02 
347.48 
371.94 
396.40 
420.se, 
445.32 
469.78- 
494.24 
518.70 
543.16 
567.62 
592.08 
616.54 
641.00 


852  RISKS   OP   GRADUATED   PITS. 

Thus  it  appears,  that  if  100  bushels  of  marl  had  been  carted  to 
12J  miles  distance  from  the  pit  (making  the  trip  to  and  fro  25 
miles),  the  cost  of  carting  would  be  $6.11 2,  which  added  to  the 
other  fixed  expenses,  29.5  cents,  shows  the  total  cost  to  be  §6.41 
the  100  bushels. 

Superior  in  general  advantage  as  is  the  mode  of  working  of  marl 
in  large  graduated  excavations,  it  is  very  hazardous  in  wet  situa- 
tions, without  much  care.  The  liability  to  damage  is  especially 
great  when  the  work  of  an  unfinished  excavation  is  suspended 
through  winter.  Then  the  caving  in  of  the  side-walls,  both  of 
overlay  and  of  the  marl,  caused  by  frequent  rain  floods,  and  still 
more  by  the  frequent  alternate  freezing  and  thawing  of  the  exposed 
marl,  may  operate  first  to  choke  the  passage,  and  soon  to  crumble 
down  the  entire  side-drain  The  outlet  of  water  from  the  pit  is 
thus  obstructed,  and  the  quantity  dammed  up  in  the  pit  converts 
the  caved  earth  and  marl  to  a  mire.  The  successive  freezing  and 
thawing  continue  to  throw  down  successive  layers  of  the  walls, 
serving  still  more  to  raise  the  water,  and  filling  the  pit  with  mire. 
It  has  happened  in  my  much  earlier  labours,  elsewhere,  that  the 
unfinished  bottom  of  large  spaces  of  marl  was  thus  so  covered  in 
deep  mire,  as  to  be  given  up,  because  not  worth  the  great  labour 
of  being  again  uncovered. 

The  surest  safeguard  against  such  dangers  is  to  complete  the  ex- 
cavations of  each  such  large  digging  before  freezing  weather;  also 
to  throw  in  enough  of  the  next  overlying  earth  to  cover  the  naked 
upright  wall  of  marl,  and  thus  protect  it  from  freezing.  Then  the 
marl  under  the  sloping  roadways  may  be  safely  worked  through 
winter,  in  perpendicular  pits,  and  each  excavation,  as  soon  as 
finished,  filled  with  earth,  in  uncovering  another  space  of  marl. 

But  when  the  extent  of  the  range,  or  the  insufficiency  of  the 
force  compels  the  large  excavation  to  remain  unfinished  through  a 
winter,  other  means  may  be  used,  varying  according  to  the  features 
of  each  locality,  to  prevent  much  loss,  and  which  will  be  suggested 
by  the  peculiar  circumstances  to  the  mind  of  every  observing 
marler. 

In  removing  overlying  earth,  the  excavation  should  not  be 
limited  precisely  to  the  laying  naked  a  sufficient  surface  of  marl, 
and  leaving  the  section  of  earth  above  nearly  perpendicular.  Even 
if  there  is  no  likelihood  of  the  earth  so  left  caving  down  in  masses, 
and  endangering  the  labourers  below,  the  earth  will  be  washed 
down  by  every  rain  in  small  qantities;  and  crumbled  down  by 
alternate  freezing  and  thawing,  if  in  winter.  The  face  of  the  over- 
lying earth  should  be  cut  to  a  slope  (as  seen  in  Fig.  IV.)  Then 
if  a  layer  is  crumbled  by  freezing,  or  by  drying,  the  loose 
earth  is  kept  in  its  place  by  its  gravity.     It  is  even  cheaper,  or 


MARLING   OPERATIONS   AT  MARLBOURNE. 


353 


more  convenient,  when  removing  the  overlay  by  the  plough  and 
scraper,  to  cut  out  as  much  beyond  the  outline  of  the  designed  un- 
covering, as  will  give  the  slope  of  section  recommended. 

During  1846  and  1847,  the  next  ranges,  E  and  F  (Fig.  II.), 
respectively  of  22  and  25  feet  width,  and  each  increased  in  length, 
were  uncovered  and  excavated.  The  next  range  Gr  was  33  feet 
wide  throughout,  and  428  feet  long.  The  excavation  of  the  marl 
of  Gr  was  begun  in  January  1847,  and  was  not  entirely  completed 
by  October  1849.  At  that  time  there  had  been  uncovered  another 
still  longer  range,  II,  36  feet  wide  and  about  450  long,  which  was 
nearly  ready,  and  could  be  so  as  soon  as  required  to  begin  the 
excavation  of  the  maid.  This  last  uncovering  had  been  in  progress 
more  than  a  year,  having  been  worked  at  when  most  convenient  to 
spare,  or  to  apply  the  labour.  In  each  of  the  ranges  since  D,  the 
upper  end  of  the  marl,  for  50  feet  in  length,  had  been  left  to  be 
taken  out  with  the  next  succeeding  range,  for  greater  facility  in 
carting.  Therefore  so  much  of  the  range  Gr  still  remains  in  the  bed. 
[1849.]  All  the  ranges  excavated,  omitting  the  unfinished  part  of 
Gr  (and  all  of  H)  and  including  the  work  at  another  earlier  digging, 
have  furnished  the  following  epiantities  of  marl,  as  estimated  by 
the  heaps  counted  on  the  fields. 


Carried  out 

in 

1844, 

heaped  bushels, 

67,875 

tt 

n 

1845, 

75,512 

tc 

it 

1846, 

35,545 

tt 

a 

1847, 

42,575 

cc 

a 

1848, 

55,106 

(( 

a 

1849, 

56,169 

To  Dec. 

1850, 

(parts  of  range  H.) 

34,684 

Total 


367,466 


When  my  operations  at  this  place  ceased  (December,  1850),  there 
then  remained  more  than  half  of  the  marl  of  range  H  uncovered 
and  not  excavated. 
30* 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  MARLING   IN    VIRGINIA. 

My  designed  task  is  at  last  completed.  "Whether  I  shall  he  ahlo 
to  persuade  my  countrymen  to  prize  the  treasures,  and  seize  the 
profits  which  are  within  their  reach,  or  whether,  my  testimony  and 
arguments  shall  be  fruitless,  soon  or  late  a  time  must  arrive  when 
my  expectations  will  be  realized.  The  use  of  calcareous  manures 
is  destined  to  change  a  large  portion  of  the  soil  of  lower  Virginia 
from  barrenness  to  fertility ;  which,  added  to  the  advantages  we 
already  possess — our  navigable  waters  and  convenient  markets,  the 
facility  of  tilling  our  lands,  and  the  choice  of  crops  offered  by  our 
climate — will  all  concur  to  increase  ten-fold  the  present  value  of 
our  land,  and  produce  more  farming  profit  than  has  been  found 
elsewhere  on  soils  far  more  favoured  by  nature.  Population,  wealth 
and  learning,  will  keep  pace  with  the  improvement  of  the  soil ;  and 
we  or  our  children  will  have  reason  to  rejoice,  not  only  as  farmers, 
but  as  Virginians,  and  as  patriots.     [1832.] 

Such,  as  appear  in  the  last  paragraph,  were  the  concluding  words 
of  this  essay,  as  published  in  1832,  and  substantially  as  the  work 
had  been  prepared  for  the  press  six  years  before  that  publication 
was  made.  Such  was  then  the  language  of  hope  and  anticipation. 
It  may  now  [1842]  be  both  interesting  and  useful  to  examine  to 
what  extent  such  hopes  and  sanguine  anticipations  have  been  so  far 
realized. 

Every  new  and  great  improvement  in  agriculture  has  had  to 
work  its  way  slowly  and  in  opposition  to  every  possible  discourage- 
ment and  obstacle.  It  would  seem  that  the  agricultural  classes  are, 
of  all  classes  and  professions,  always  the  least  ready  to  receive 
benefit  from  instruction — the  most  distrustful  of  instructors,  and 
the  least  thankful  for  their  services — even  after  the  benefit  is  the 
most  completely  proved,  and  established  by  actual  practice  and  un- 
questionable facts.  The  novel  improvement  by  marling  has  not 
presented  an  exception  to  this  universal  rule.  But  still,  it  may 
be  confidently  asserted,  that  no  other  agricultural  improvt  nu  nt  has 
I  en  so  rapidly  extended,  so  widely  and  generally  received  in 
short  time,  or  has  been  so  generally  and  greatly  profitable  to  all 
who  have  availed  themselves  of  the  benefits  thereby  offered  to  their 
acceptance.  When  my  first  trials  were  made  iu  1818,  so  far  a,s  I 
then  knew,  I  had  no  forerunner  in  success.    For  the  few  and  small 

(351) 


EARLY   OBSTACLES   TO   MARLINO.  355 

and  long  abandoned  experiments,  then  known,  and  the  opinions 
deduced  therefrom,  stood  as  warnings  against,  and  not  in  the  least 
as  encouragements  to  repetition ;  and  the  then  actually  proceeding 
use  of  marl,  silent  and  unknown,  and  to  small  extent  but  successful, 
had  not  even  been  heard  of.  A  few  more  years  served  to  dispel 
all  doubts  of  those  who  had  tried  or  could  witness  the  results  of  the 
applications  of  marl.  Still,  ignorance  of  the  mode  of  operation  has 
not  been  dispelled  by  the  knowledge  of  the.  great  benefits  of  marl ; 
and  therefore  the  grossest  errors  of  practice  accompanied  and  greatly 
lessened  the  full  advantages  of  the  continually  extending  use  of 
marl.  It  required  but  little  time  for  all  to  learn  and  asseut  to  the 
propriety  of  the  one  main  and  simple  instruction,  "  apply  marl ;" 
but  few  would  consent  to  learn  anything  else  ;  or  would  believe  that 
there  was  anything  else  necessary  to  learn  or  to  do,  except  merely 
to  "  apply  marl."  They  would  not  learn  from  anything  but  their 
own  dearly  bought  experience  of  error.  And  very  many  have  thus 
learned,  and  have  paid  the  cost  to  their  own  pecuniary  loss  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  in  value — whether  in  delay  by  misapplied  effort,  or 
in  positive  loss  and  injury  sustained  by  wrong  practice — which  the 
outlay  of  a  few  dimes,  and  the  attentive  reading  for  a  few  hours, 
might  have  effectually  guarded  them  against.  And  so  it  still  goes 
on,  and  will  go  on,  with  all  who  are  new  beginners  and  learners, 
and  who  have  not  yet  paid  each  their  hundreds  or  thousands  of 
dollars  in  loss,  in  preference  to  less  than  as  many  cents,  in  both 
money  and  labour,  in  acquiring  proper  instruction,  and  security 
from  all  such  loss. 

But  with  all  such  enormous  drawbacks  of  loss,  which  if  avoided 
would  have  doubled  the  actually  achieved  benefits,  the  extension 
of  marling  and  liming,  and  the  amount  of  benefit  thence  derived 
and  realized  in  lower  Virginia,  since  1818,  have  had  no  precedent 
in  the  annals  of  agricultural  improvement  by  any  mode  of  manuring. 
The  following  extract  from  a  more  general  report,  recently  made  by 
the  writer  to  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  (in  1842),  will  present 
this  branch  of  the  subject  in  its  proper  aspect. 

"Marling,  or  manuring  from  beds  of  fossil  shells.—  This  mode  of  fertiliza- 
tion, now  so  general  through  all  the  marl  region  of  lower  Virginia,  was  not 
practised  except  on  three  or  four  detached  farms,  and  that  to  but  small  ex- 
tent before  1820.  Some  few  and  small  experimental  applications  of  marl 
had  indeed  been  made  by  different  individuals,  from  15  to  as  far  back  as 
45  years  earlier;  but  which  applications,  from  total  misconception  of  the 
true  mode  of  action  of  calcareous  manures,  had  been  deemed  failures; 
and,  without  exception,  had  been  abandoned  by  the  experimenters  as 
worthless;  and  the  experiments  had  been  almost  forgotten,  until  again 
brought  to  notice,  after  and  in  consequence  of  the  much  later  and  fully 
successful  introduction  of  the  practice. 

"  Henley  Taylor  and  Archer  Hankins,  two  plain  and  illiterate  farmers, 
and  near  neighbours  in  James  City  county,  were  the  earliest  successful  and 


356  EARLIEST   MARLING  OPERATIONS. 

continuing  appliers  of  marl  in  Virginia.  But  at  what  time  they  began,  and 
■which  of  them  was  the  first,  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn ;  though  visiting 
Mr.  Hankins'  farm  for  that  purpose,  as  well  as  to  see  his  marling,  and 
making  inquiries  of  him  personally,  in  1833.  Mr.  Taylor  had  then  been 
long  dead,  and  his  improvements  said  to  be  almost  lost,  by  the  exhausting 
tillage  of  the  then  occupant  of  his  land.  Mr.  Hankins  was  unable  to  say 
when  he  and  his  neighbour  began  to  try  marl.  He  was  only  certain  that  it 
was  before  181G.  Yet,  though  these  farms  arc  within  12  or  15  miles  of 
AVilliamsburg,  to  which  place  I  had  made  visits  once  a  year  or  oftener,  yet 
I  never  heard  an  intimation  of  their  having  begun  such  practice,  until  some 
time  after  my  own  first  trials  in  1818.  At  that  time,  when  led  to  the  use, 
as  I  was,  altogether  by  theoretical  views,  and  by  reasoning  (in  advance)  on 
the  supposed  constitution  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  the  known  constitution  of 
the  manure,  it  would  have  been  to  me  the  most  acceptable  and  beneficial 
information  to  have  heard  that  any  other  person  had  already  proved  prac- 
tically the  value  of  marling.  The  slow  progress  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
mere  fact  of  marl  having  been  successfully  used  before  that  time,  was  a 
strong  illustration  of  the  then  almost  total  want  of  communication  among 
farmers,  as  well  as  of  their  general  apathy  and  ignorance  in  regard  to  the 
means  of  improving  their  lands.*' 

"  Much  earlier  than  the  commencement  of  marling  in  James  City,  the 
practice  had  been  commenced  (in  1805),  in  TalbDt  county,  Maryland,  by 
Mr.  Singleton.  His  account  of  his  practice  is  in  the  4th  volume  of  the 
'  Memoirs  of  the  Philadelphia  Agricultural  Society,'  dated  December  31, 
1817,  and  first  published  some  time  in  1818.  But  successful  as  was  his 
practice,  and  also  that  of  Mr.  Taylor  and  Mr.  Hankins  in  connexion  with 
much  worse  farming,  it  is  certain  that  neither  of  these  individuals  had  the 
least  idea  of  the  true  action  of  marl ;  and  they  were  indebted  to  their  good 
fortune,  more  than  to  any  exercise  of  reasoning,  that  they  received  profit- 
able returns,  and  did  no  injury  by  marling.  They  all  three  applied  their 
putrescent  manures  with  the  marl.  But  though  this  was  the  safest  and 
most  beneficial  plan,  the  thus  uniting  them  prevented  the  separate  action 
and  value  of  putrescent  and  calcareous  manures  being  known,  compared, 
and  duly  appreciated. 

••  My  own  application  of  marl,  on  Coggins  Point  farm,  Prince  George 
county,  which  in  1818  extended  only  to  15  acres  (of  which  but  3  or  4  were 
under  the  crop  of  that  year),  by  1821  had  been  increased  to  above  80  acres 
a  year,  and  so  continued  until  nearly  all  the  then  arable  land  on  that  farm 
requiring  it  (more  than  600  acres),  had  been  covered.  In  1821,  my  earliest 
publication  on  the  subject  was  made.  Though  the  facts  and  reasoning  thus 
made  known  by  that  time  were  beginning  to  attract  much  notice,  and  to 
induce  many  persons  to  begin  to  marl,  still  it  was  some  years  later  before 
incredulity  and  ridicule  had  generally  given  place  to  full  confidence  in  the 
value  of  the  improvement.  Even  at  this  time,  when  nearly  25  years  of  my 
own  experience  of  marling  and  its  benefits  have  passed,  and  the  results  are 
open  to  public  notice  and  scrutiny,  half  the  persons  who  could  marl  are 
either  not  engaged  at  it,  or  are  marling  to  but  little  purpose  ;  and  of  all 
who  are  using  maid,  nineteen  in  twenty  are  proceeding  injudiciously,  with- 
out regard  to  the  mode  of  operation  of  the  manure,  and  therefore  are  either 
doing  harm,  or  losing  profit,  almost  as  often,  though  in  less  degree,  as 
doing  good.  At  this  time,  however,  there  are  scarcely  any  persons,  how- 
ever negligent  or  mistaken  in  practice,  who  do  not  fully  admit  the  great 
value  and  certain  profit  of  applying  marl,  wherever  it  is  available. 

*  See  a  more  full  account  at  page  108,  vol.  i.,  Farmers'  .Register. 


PROGRESS   OF  MARLING.  357 

"But  'with  all  the  existing  neglect  of  using  this  means  of  fertilization, 
and  with  all  the  still  worse  ignorance  of  or  inattention  to  its  manner  of 
operating,  there  never  has  been  a  new  improvement  in  agriculture  more 
rapidly  extended,  or  with  such  beneficial  and  profitable  results.  In  Prince 
George  county  there  is  not  one  farmer  having  marl  on  or  near  his  land, 
who  has  not  applied  it  to  greater  or  less  extent,  and  always  with  more  or 
less  profit — and,  in  most  cases,  largely  as  well  as  profitably.  In  James 
City  county  there  has  been  perhaps  the  next  largest  as  well  as  the  oldest 
practice.  In  York  county,  as  in  James  City,  some  of  the  most  valuable 
and  profitable  improvements  by  marling  have  been  made.  And  some  of 
the  farms  of  both  counties,  adjoining  Williamsburg,  and  having  the  benefit 
of  putrescent  town  manures,  show,  more  strikinglj*  than  any  others  known, 
the  remarkable  power  of  calcareous  manure  to  fix  the  putrescent  in  the 
soil,  and  make  them  more  efficient  and  far  more  durable.  In  Surry,  Isle 
of  Wight,  Nansemond,  Charles  City,  New  Kent,  Hanover,  King  'William, 
Kin:;  and  Queen,  Gloucester,  and  Middlesex  counties,  in  the  middle  of  the 
marl  region  of  Virginia,  marl  has  been  already  extensively  applied,  and  tho 
profits  therefrom  are  annually  increasing.  And  in  other  surrounding  coun- 
ties, less  abundantly  supplied  with  marl,  the  practice  has  been  carried  on 
in  proportion  to  the  facilities,  and  to  the  more  scanty  experience  and  degree 
of  information  on  the  subject.  It  would  be  a  most  important  statistical 
fact,  if  it  could  be  ascertained  how  much  land  in  Virginia  has  already  been 
marled.  The  quantity  however  is  very  great ;  and  all  the  land  marled  has 
been  thereby  increased  in  net  product,  on  the  general -average,  fully  8 
bushels  of  corn  or  oats,  or  4  bushels  of  wheat,  if  following  corn,  and  tho 
land  increased  in  intrinsic  value  fully  200  per  cent,  on  its  previous  value 
or  market  price.  Where  the  marling  has  been  judiciously  conducted,  these 
rates  of  increase  have  been  more  than  doubled.  From  these  data,  might 
be  calculated  something  like  the  already  prodigiously  increased  values 
and  products  due  solely  to  .marling,  and  which  will  be  still  more  in- 
creasing from  year  to  year.  If  not  already  reached,  the  result  will  soon  be 
reached,  of  new  value  to  the  amount  of  millions  of  dollars  having  been  thus 
created.  *  *  *  *  * 

"  It  required  the  improvement  by  marling,  on  originally  poor  and  mid- 
dling soils  (or  liming,  -which  in  final  or  general  results  is  the  same  thing), 
to  render  as  generally  available  the  best  (and  otherwise  but  rarely  found) 
benefits  of  the  two  kinds  of  vegetable  manuring  recommended  by  Taylor. 
When  such  soils  have  been  made  calcareous,  by  marling  or  liming,  then, 
and  not  until  then,-  all  the  benefits,  present  and  future,  that  his  readers 
might  have  been  induced  to  expect,  may  be  confidently  counted  upon.  In 
my  own  earlier  practice — and  Taylor  had  no  greater  admirer,  or  more  im- 
plicit follower — I  found  my  farm-yard  manurings  on  acid  soils  scarcely  to 
pay  the  expense  of  application,  and  to  leave  no  trace  of  the  effect  after  a 
very  short  time.  And  land,  allowed  to  receive  for  its  support  all  its  vege- 
table growth  (of  weeds  and  natural  grass)  of  two  and  a  half  years  in  every 
four,  and  the  products  in  corn  having  been  measured  and  compared,  showed 
no  certain  increase  in  more  than  twenty  years  of  such  mild  treatment. 
Since,  on  the  same  fields,  farm-yard  manures,  in  every  mode  of  prepara- 
tion and  application,  always  tell  well,  both  in  early  effect  and  in  duration. 
And  even  the  leaves  raked  up  on  wood-land,  spread  immediately  and  with- 
out any  preparation  as  top-dressing  on  clover,  always  produce  most  mani- 
fest improvement,  and  are  believed  to  give  more  net  profit  than  any  appli- 
cation of  the  much  richer  farm-yard  manure,  per  acre,  made  on  like  land 
before  it  is  marled.  This  utilizing  and  fixing  of  other  manures,  and  the 
fitting  land  to  produce  clover  (and  to  receive  benefit  from  gypsum  on  clo- 


358  PROGRESS   OP  LIMING. 

ver),  which  effects  of  marling  are  in  addition  to  all  the  direct  benefit  pro- 
duced, would  alone  serve  to  give  a  new  face  to  the  agriculture  of  the 
country.  Whatever  may  be  done  by  clover,  and  almost  every  thing  that 
can  be  done  to  profit  by  vegetable  manures,  on  the  much  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  lands  of  lower  Virgina,  will  bo  due  to  the  application  of  marl 
or  lime. 

"  Liming. — The  kindred  improvement  by  liming  began  to  be  extensively 
practised  on  some  of  the  best  James  river  lands,  where  no  marl  was  found, 
soon  after  the  use  of  the  latter  began  to  extend.  Who  may  have  made 
the  earliest  and  small  applications  of  lime  is  not  known,  nor  is  it  at  all  im- 
portant. The  earlier  profitable  use  of  lime  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  much 
earlier  and  more  extended  use  in  Britain,  were  known  to  every  well  in- 
formed or  reading  farmer.  Such  a  one  was  Fielding  Lewis,  of  Charles  City, 
as  well  as  a  most  attentive,  judicious,  and  successful  practical  cultivator 
and  improver.  He  is  believed  to  have  been  the  earliest  considerable  limer, 
and  the  one  who  obtained  the  most  manifest  profits  therefrom,  and  whose 
example  had  most  effect  in  spreading  the  practice.  Some  of  his  disciples 
and  followers  have  since,  in  greater  rapidity  and  wider  extent  of  opera- 
tions, far  surpassed  their  teacher  and  leader — to  whom,  however,  they 
award  the  highest  meed  of  praise  for  bringing  into  use,  and  establishing, 
this  great  benefit  to  the  agriculture  of  lower  Virginia.  Nearly  all  the  best 
soils  on  James  river  are  comparatively  of  low  level,  as  if  of  ancient  alluvial 
formation,  and  have  no  marl,  with  which  the  neighbouring  higher  and 
poorer  lands  are  mostly  supplied.  Of  such  rich  lands  are  the  farms  of  Wey- 
anoke,  Sandy  Point,  Westover,  and  Shirley,  &c,  in  Charles  City,  and 
Brandon  (Upper  and  Lower),  in  Prince  George — and  on  all  these  lands,  as 
well  as  some  others,  lime  has  been  largely  applied.  The  use  is  extending 
to  the  lands  on  and  near  to  all  the  tide-waters  of  the  state  ;  and  it  has  re- 
cently received  a  new  impulse  from  the  low  price  at  which  northern  stone- 
lime  is  now  brought  and  sold.  It  is  ready  slaked,  and  the  vessels  are 
loaded  in  bulk.  The  lime  is  sold  on  James  river  at  10  cents  the  bushel, 
and  even  may  be  contracted  for  at  8  cents,  from  vessels  that  come  for  car- 
goes of  wood,  and  would  come  empty  but  for  bringing  lime.  The  greater 
lightness  and  cheaper  transportation  of  lime  will  enable  it  to  be  applied 
where  marl  could  not  be  carried  with  profit ;  and  with  the  two,  there  will 
be  but  little  of  lower  Virginia  which  may  not  be  profitably  improved  by 
calcareous  manures."* 

With  all  the  caution  proper  to  be  used  in  a  report  made  to  a 
Board  of  Agriculture,  aud  through  it  to  the  government  of  the 
commonwealth,  the  writer  dared  to  predict,  in  1842  (as  quoted 
above),  of  the  increased  value  of  lands  caused  by  marling,  that  "  if 
not  already  reached,  the  result  will  soon  be  reached,  of  new  value 
to  the  amount  of  millions  of  dollars  having  been  thus  created." 
Because  of  the  then  deficiency  of  statistical  and  documentary 
evidence  (since  partially  and  imperfectly  supplied),  he  was  not 
then  aware  that  this  prediction  had  already  been  more  than  fulfilled. 

*  Extract  from  "Report  to  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  on  the  most 
important  improvements  of  agriculture  in  lower  Virginia,  and  the  most 
important  defects  yet  remaining."  Published  by  order  of  the  General 
Assembly,  as  a  state  document,  and  also  in  Farmers'  Register,  p.  _-j7, 
vol.  x. 


EFFECTS   ON   PUBLIC  INTERESTS.  850 

Tho  message  of  the  present  Governor  of  Virginia  to  the  legislature, 
in  January,  1852,  stated,  upon  the  evidence  of  official  documents, 
that  the  assessed  values  of  lands  in  the  tide-water  district,  had  heen 
increased  more  than  17  millions  of  dollars  in  the  twelve  years  pre- 
ceding the  last  assessment  of  1850.  The  governor  properly  ascribed 
this  increased  value  of  lands  of  this  region  to  the  recent  fertilization 
of  particular  portions.  With  all  well-informed  residents,  or  those 
acquainted  generally  with  the  past  and  present  circumstances  of 
this  region,  there  will  be  no  question  as  to  the  whole  of  the  in- 
creased value  being  due  to  the  use  of  calcareous  manures.  For 
before  the  introduction  of  this  still  recent  practice,  both  the  intrinsic 
and  the  market  values  of  lands  had  decreased — as  they  have  con- 
tinued since  to  decrease  in  the  neighbouring  counties  in  which 
there  has  been  very  little  or  no  use  of  marl  or  lime.  All  other 
improvements  of  agricultural  practices,  great  as  they  certainly  have 
been,  have  not  sufficed  to  replace  the  productive  power  wasted  by 
the  generally  exhausting  tillage. 

But  great  as  is  this  declared  general  increase  of  value  of  the 
lands  of  this  tide-water  region  alone — and,  as  I  maintain,  from  the 
effects  of  calxing  alone — it  is  not  near  so  much  as  can  be  truly 
asserted,  and  satisfactorily  proved  from  the  public  documents  and 
statistical  tables,  defective  as  they  are  for  this  course  of  investiga- 
tion. This  is  not  the  place  to  offer  in  detail  the  authorities  and 
proofs  qf  these  important  facts.  But  this  shall  be  done  in  another 
paper,  which  will  be  a  communication  to  the  State  Agricultural 
Society.  In  that  paper  I  will  maintain,  and  expect  to  establish, 
the  following  propositions,  of  which  the  enunciation  will  be  here 
stated  concisely,  in  advance  of  the  proofs,  and  deductions  therefrom, 
which  will  hereafter  appear  : 

1.  The  parts  of  lower  Virginia,  long  settled  and  cultivated,  and 
also  the  neighbouring  upper  counties,  had  been  decreasing  in  pro- 
duction, in  population,  and  especially  in  productive  or  labouring 
population,  in  wealth  generally,  in  the  intrinsic  or  productive  value, 
and  also  the  selling  and  assessed  values  of  lands,  for  more  or  less 
time,  previous  to  the  commencement  of  the  improvement  by  marl- 
ing; and  such  decrease  has  continued  to  this  time,  and  is  still  pro- 
ceeding, wherever  there  has  been  no  marling  or  liming. 

2.  In  the  counties  in  which  most  land  has  been  improved  by 
marling  or  liming,  and  only  since  these  improvements  were  in  pro- 
gress, there  has  been  a  marked  change  from  the  former  declining 
condition,  just  stated,  to  increase  of  value  of  lands,  of  wealth  gene- 
rally, and  of  products  of  taxation — and  as  a  later  and  as  yet  less 
advanced  effect,  an  increase  of  population  also. 

3.  This  change  from  decrease  to  increase  of  the  values  of  lands, 
though  not  indicated  by  official  documents  earlier  than  the  assess- 
ment of  1838,  (there  having  been  no  previous  assessment  later  than 


3G0  effects  on  public  ixteei 

that  of  1819),  bad  in  fact  begun  about  1828,  vrben  there  existed  a 
much  lower  state  of  depression  of  production  and  of  value;  from 
which  lower  rate,  and  earlier  time,  the  selling  value  of  lands,  and 
much  more  the  productive  or  intrinsic  value,  had  been  increasing 
fat  22  Years  preceding  the  last  assessment  of  1850 — and  (at  least) 
to  the  amount  of  nearly  80  millions  of  dollars;  instead  of  17^ 
millions  increase  in  12  years,  as  computed  in  the  governor's  mes- 
sage. 

4.  All  this  stated  increase  of  value  of  lands  is  much  less  than  is 
the  actual  increase ;  and  though  stated  as  for  the  whole  tide-water 
district,  in  truth  it  has  been  achieved  upon  a  very  small  proportion 
of  the  surface  of  that  district — the  great  remainder  (more  than 
twenty  times  as  much  in  quantity) — still  being  without  any  such 
improvement,  or  increase  of  either  assessed  or  productive  value. 
Even  on  the  very  small  proportion  marled  or  limed,  the  improve- 
ments are  of  less  than  half  the  value  which  judicious  procedure 
would  have  effected,  and  earlier,  at  less  cost,  and  also  permanently. 
Hence,  the  actual  calxings  may  yet  be  doubled  in  effect  and  value, 
and  twenty  times  as  much  space  may  be  raised  to  like  increased 
production  and  value. 

5.  Therefore,  the  admitted  newly  created  value  of  land,  of  17^ 
millions  of  dollars  between  the  two  latest  assessments,  and  the  as- 
serted increase  of  nearly  80  millions  from  1823,  are  both,  beyond 
comparison,  far  below  the  available  increase  for  the  whole  of  the 
tide-water  district  alone — to  say  nothing  of  the  other  parts  of  Vir- 
ginia, improvable  by  like  means.  The  whole  available  increase 
of  value  on  lands  alone,  and  for  the  tide-water  district  alone,  on  the 
premises  stated,  may  reach  to  500  millions  of  dollars — with  pro- 

donal  increase  of  value  of  other  farming  capital  and  connected 
movable  property,  ana  of  population  and  products  of  taxation. 

Enormous  or  incredible  as  these  predicted  results  may  appear,  I 
maintain  that  there  is  more  ground  now  to  expeet  the  complete 
fulfilment  within  the  next  35  years,  than  there  was,  35  years  past, 
in  the  then  desperate  condition  of  agriculture,  to  expect,  not  only 
the  now  actual  increase  of  values  in  lower  Virginia,  but  even  any 
smaller  general  increase.  The  main  thing  needed  to  aid  and  hasten 
the  fulfilment  should  be  a  measure  which  heretofore  has  been  en- 
tirely neglected  and  scornfully  refused,  in  this  and  in  all  other 
relations  to  agriculture,  viz.  :  that  the  government  of  Virginia 
shall  in  proper  manner  induce  investigation,  and  encourage  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  in  this  and  every  other  department  of  agri- 
cultural research  and  labour. 

In  the  report,  part  of  which  was  quoted  above,  it  was  recom- 
mended, and  again  more  formally  in  the  general  report  of  the  Board 
of  Agriculture  to  the  legislature,  that  the  amount  of  land  marled 
and  limed  should  be  obtained  by  the  commissioners  of  the  revenue, 


NEGLECT   BY  THE   GOVERNMENT.  361 

and  reported  by  the  government.  This  small  and  costless  aid  to 
agricultural  knowledge,  and  encouragement  to  further  improvement 
(as  well  as  all  aid  of  greater  value),  the  legislature  of  Virginia  denied. 
If  it  had  been  granted,  and  thereby  had  been  shown  the  real  extent 
of  these  improvements  in  every  county,  and  even  as  it  might  be  on 
every  farm,  these  facts,  in  connexion  with  the  values  shown  by  the 
different  assessments,  would  have  exhibited  clearly  and  fully  the 
results  which  can  now  only  be  inferred  generally,  loosely,  and  ac- 
companied necessarily  by  many  errors.  Such  important  results, 
so  fully  established,  and  made  so  obvious  to  all,  would  have  operated 
more  strongly  than  any  and  all  other  existing  incitements,  to  en- 
courage the  extension  and  the  judicious  procedure  of  improvements 
by  calcareous  manures.  It  would  then  clearly  appear  which  in- 
dividuals had  secured  to  themselves  this  30  millions  of  dollars  of 
already  increased  value  of  property,  and  by  what  easy  means.  And 
all  other  persons,  who  could  follow  the  example,  and  secure  their 
shares  of  as  rich  rewards,  would  be  imperatively  called  to  use  the 
like  procedure,  and  so  obtain  the  like  benefit  for  themselves  and 
for  the  commonwealth.  It  would  have  been  to  the  before  and  still 
listless  and  inert  proprietors  and  cultivators  of  our  poor  and  unim- 
proved lands  similar  in  effect  with  the  first  announcement  of  the 
gold  of  California  being  ready  for  every  needy  adventurer  who 
was  able  to  go  and  dig  for  it.  In  the  use  of  calcareous  manures,  on 
all  the  poor  or  exhausted  land  where  their  use  is  available,  there 
are  offered  rewards  to  all  judicious  adventurers  far  richer,  and  more 
certainly  and  largely  productive,  than  the  golden  products  of  Cali- 
fornia— and  the  former  would  be  as  much  conducive  to  public  and 
private  weal,  as  the  gold  of  California  has  been  and  will  be  in- 
jurious to  both. 


31 


APPENDIX. 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

In  the  foregoing  exposition  of  theory  and  practice,  it  has  been 
the  object  and  effort  of  the  author  to  embrace  whatever  seemed 
necessary  for  proof  or  for  illustration  ;  and  to  omit  everything  else, 
lest  too  much  of  amplification  or  digression  should  weaken  rather 
than  strengthen  the  main  positions.  Thus  it  is  believed  that  the 
foregoing  chapters,  as  argument  and  proof,  serve  to  establish  the 
series  of  propositions  which  were  at  first  advanced  and  throughout 
contended  for.  Still  there  remained  many  minor  but  interesting 
subjects,  mwe  or  less  intimately  connected  with  the  investigation, 
or  serving  for  more  full  proof,  and  which  well  deserved  more  ex- 
tended discussion,  and  the  consideration  of  those  readers  who  should 
desire  to  pursue  farther  the  general  object  of  this  essay.  These 
subjects  will  be  treated  separately  in  the  different  articles  of  this 
appendix ;  which  may  be  read,  it  is  believed,  with  both  interest  and 
benefit  by  the  more  inquiring  class  of  readers;  or  may  be  passed 
over,  by  the  more  cursory  and  careless,  without  much  detriment  to 
the  arguments  and  facts  of  the  preceding  portion  and  regular  body 
of  the  work. 


NOTE  I. — Extension  of  the  subject  of  pages   92 — 97.  ' 

Additional  proof ,  offered  in  the  production  and  existence  of  black 
waters,  of  the  action  of  lime  in  combining  vegetable  matters  with 
soil. 

Every  person  who  has  seen  much  of  the  different  parts  of  lower 
Virginia  (to  go  no  farther  for  examples),  must  have  remarked  the 
dark  permanent  colour  of  the  waters  of  many  streams  and  mill- 
ponds  ;  and  that  others,  whether  when  clear  or  when  turbid,  are  at 
all  times  and  entirely  without  any  tinge  of  this  peculiar  colouring 
matter.  The  waters  thus  coloured  by  vegetable  matter  are  more 
deeply  tinted  at  some  times  than  at  others  :  but  are  always  strongly 

3G3 


364  BLACK   WATERS. 

thus  marked.  These  waters,  when  several  feet  in  depth,  appear  to  the 
eye  quite  black  or  very  dark  brown.  The  same  if  viewed  in  a  drink- 
ing glass  would  appear  of  the  colour  of  Sherry  wine,  and  might 
present  some  shade  between  the  palest  and  deepest  tints  of  such 
wine.  This  colour  has  nothing  of  muddiness ;  for  these  waters  are 
as  clear  from  suspended  clay  or  mud  as  any  other  waters  not  so 
coloured  in  the  slightest  degree.  In  the  county  in  which  nearly 
all  my  life  has  been  passed,  Prince  George,  these  different  kinds  of 
waters  are  to  be  seen  in  stronger  contrast,  because  of  their  close 
neighbourhood.  All  the  streams  which  flow  into  Blackwater  river, 
as  well  as  the  main  stream  which  that  name  so  well  describes, 
from  its  head  to  its  outlet,  are  coloured  deeply,  and  it  is  believed 
without  exception.  On  the  contrary,  the  streams  which  flow  into 
James  river  are  all  without  the  least  tint  of  colour,  though  they 
often  rise  from  sources  very  near  to  some  of  the  others,  the  head- 
springs being  on  opposite  sides  of  the  same  dividing  ridge  of  level 
table  laud,  and  in  lands  precisely  alike.  Some  of  these  lands  are 
of  close  and  stiff  soil,  and  some  more  sandy  and  quite  light ;  but 
all  are  level,  poor,  and  acid  lands,  and  are  mostly  still  under  forest 
growth. 

All  persons,  whether  of  the  most  or  the  least  observant  class, 
would  concur  in  the  opinion  that  this  colour  proceeds  fjoin  vegeta- 
ble matter.  This  is  obvious  even  in  the  waters  of  heavy  rains, 
which  when  more  than  the  level  ridge  lands  can  absorb,  flow  off, 
and  are  sometimes  for  a  day  or  more  thus  passing  in  temporary 
streams  to  the  nearest  valley,  or  other  descent.  These  surplus 
waters,  while  yet  on  the  highest  woodland,  are  coloured  to  a  greater 
or  less  depth  of  tint ;  and  just  as  much  in  those  which  take  their 
course  towards  James  river,  as  the  others  which  flow  in  the  opposite 
direction  to  the  Blackwater.  The  difference  is  that  the  former  soon 
lose  all  such  colouring  matter,  and  in  no  case  carry  it  to  or  even 
near  James  river,  whilst  the  other  waters  increase  in  depth  of 
colour  with  the  length  of  their  course,  or  the  duration  of  time  they 
remain  in  the  mill-ponds  they  pass  through,  or  in  the  sluggish  Black- 
water  river. 

The  supply  of  colouring  matter  is  principally  furnished  by  the 
dead  and  fallen  leaves  in  the  poor  forest  land,  and  is  doubtless  in- 
creased afterwards,  both  by  the  partial  evaporation  of  the  water, 
and  by  its  dissolving  still  more  of  the  soluble  vegetable  extract  in 
the  flat  swampy  grounds  through  which  the  streams  flow  into  the 
Blackwater.  This  might  indeed  satisfactorily  account  for  these 
waters  being  more  deeply  coloured  than  those  which  pass  by  a  more 
rapid  descent  to  James  river.  But  these  different  circumstances 
do  not  serve  at  all  to  explain  why  the  latter  waters  should  soon 
lose,  if  they  had  it  at  first,  the  slightest  trace  of  colour. 

The  like  circumstances  are  probably  to  be  found  to  more  or  less 


BLACK   WATERS.  365 

extent  in  most  of  tbc  counties  on  our  tide-water  rivers,  as  most  of 
them  have  poor  forest  lands  and  some  swampy  streams  ia  the 
interior. 

As  tbo  opposite  circumstances  of  the  presence  or  absence  of 
colour  in  different  waters  is  certainly  not  caused  by  such  difference 
in  the  sources  of  supply,  they  must  be  caused  by  some  subsequent 
action,  which  serves  to  clear  the  waters  in  one  locality,  by  combin- 
ing with  and  taking  off  the  dissolved  colouring  matter,  aud  which 
action  does  not  take  place  elsewhere,  because  there  is  no  such 
efficient  agent  present.  That  agent  I  take  to  be  carbonate  of  lime, 
or  some  other  salt  of  lime  in  the  soil  in  the  one  case,  and  which  is 
present  in  quantity  altogether  insufficient  for  such  action  in  the 
other  case.  According  to  the  views  which  were  presented  (page 
96)  in  regard  to  the  power  of  calcareous  earth  to  combine  chemi- 
cally with  vegetable  matter,  if  the  coloured  waters  should  flow  over 
soils  furnished  with  calcareous  matter,  or  into  streams  impregnated 
with  any  salts  of  lime,  it  would  follow  that  the  suspended  or  dis- 
solved vegetable  extract  would  combine  with  the  calcareous  matter 
of  the  soil  in  the  water,  and  the  new  combination  be  precipitated, 
and  be  given  to  the  soil,  as  manure,  either  immediately  or  remotely. 
This  effect  would  be  greatly  aided  if  the  streams  swollen  by  rains 
actually  passed  in  contact  with  and  washed  away  exposed  banks  of 
marl.  All  recent  rain-water  contains  a  small  amount  of  carbonic 
acid,  and  that  impregnation  enables  water  to  dissolve  a  proportional 
quantity  of  carbonate  of  lime,  which  is  insoluble  in  water  without 
this  addition  of  carbonic  acid.  Therefore,  in  such  circumstances 
the  swollen  streams  and  land  floods  would  necessarily  dissolve  some 
carbonate  of  linys,  which  would  be  thus  placed  immediately  and 
fully  in  mixture. and  perfect  contact  with  the  before  dissolved  vege- 
table colouring  matter,  and  next  must  take  place  the  combination 
of  the  two,  and  precipitation  of  the  compound  manure.  The  con- 
sequence must  be,  that  the  lands  thus  overflowed  must  be  more  or 
less  enriched  by  every  heavy  rain ;  while  the  lands  overflowed  by 
the  coloured  waters  receive,  or  retain,,  nothing  of  soluble  vegetable 
matter  from  this  source,  and  may  even  lose  part  of  what  they  had 
before  received  from  the  decay  of  their  own  growth,  or  other 
sources,  by  its  being  dissolved  aud  carried  off  by  such  overflowing 
waters. 

Now  let  us  see  how  the  actual  results  agree  with  these  different 
causes,  so  far  as  the  causes  are  known  to  exist.  In  the  limited 
region  particularly  referred  to  above,  the  low  grounds,  subject  to 
inundation  by  rains  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  having  beds  of  marl 
which  the  stream  cuts  through,  are  of  much  richer  soil  than  any 
others,  though  the  quantity  of  marl  displaced  by  the  stream  (if  in- 
deed any  such  displacing  be  perceptible)  would  seem  altogether  too 
small  in  amount  to  produce  such  extent  of  fertilization  by  direct 
31* 


366  CLEARNESS   OP  LIME-STOXE   WATERS. 

action.  And  it  is  believed,  whether  marl  beds  be  so  exposed  or 
not,  that  the  low  grounds  on  the  streams  of  colourless  water  are 
always  much  better  soils,  and  of  more  durable  fertility,  than  those 
washed  by  coloured  waters.  The  latter  soils  being  often  swampy, 
are  full  of  vegetable  matter,  and  of  course  would  be  very  productive 
when  first  drained  and  cultivated.  But  these  soils  are  far  from 
being  among  the  most  durable,  and  they  are  even  at  first,  and  when 
in  best  condition,  very  inferior  lands  to  most  low  grounds  of  prime 
quality;  and  the  latter  are  always  penetrated  by  streams,  or  had 
been  sometimes  covered  by  floods,  which,  however  turbid  at  certain 
times  with  suspended  clay  and  mud,  are  never  coloured'by  vegeta- 
ble extractive  or  soluble  matter  alone. 

If  we  go  farther  for  examples,  the  effects  will  be  found  to  be 
still  more  striking.  None  of  the  lime-stone  streams  are  ever 
coloured;  and  their  remarkable  transparency,  very  far  surpassing 
that  of  the  most  pure  and  limpid  waters  of  the  low  country,  show 
that  the  dissolved  lime,  which  the  mountain  streams  contain,  serves 
to  remove  everything  of  colouring  matter.  These  lime-stone  wa- 
ters, and  land  floods  from  rains  which  also  necessarily  carry  dis- 
solved carbonate  of  lime,  form  the  principal  supply  of  the  upper 
James  river.  But  long  before  the  waters  reach  the  head  of  tide, 
not  a  particle  of  lime  remains.  The  dissolved  lime  had  been  con- 
tinually uniting  with  the  suspended  or  dissolved  vegetable  matter, 
until  no  lime  was  left,  and  the  precipitated  compound  had  served 
to  add  more  manure  to  the  extensive  low-grounds  along  the  whole 
course  of  the  upper  James  river,  and  which  are  so  well  known  and 
deservedly  celebrated  for  their  great  and  enduring  fertility  and 
high  value. 

When  a  resident  of  the  lower  country  first  visits  our  mountain 
and  lime-stone  region,  he  cannot  avoid  observing  and  being  forcibly 
impressed  by  the  remarkable  clearness  of  the  waters.  Pools  and 
basins  in  the  streams  containing  six  feet  depth  of  water,  will  ap- 
pear to  his  unpractised  eye  as  not  deeper  than  two  or  three  feet. 
And  it  is  only  by  comparison,  and  by  becoming  acquainted  with 
this  really  and  perfectly  clear  lime-stone  water,  he  learns  that  he 
had,  in  truth,  never  before  seen  a  stream  or  pond  of  perfectly  clear 
water.  Though  the  dissolved  matters  may  be  in  too  small  quan- 
tity to  produce  any  appearance  of  colour,  they  serve  to  impair-the 
transparency  of  the  water.  And  when  any  such  colouring  or 
vegetable  matters  are  received  into  and  intermixed  with  lime-stone 
streams,  the  vegetable  matter  is  immediately  combined  with  lime, 
and  the  compound  precipitated ;  still  leaving  in  the  water  a  great 
excess  of  dissolved  lime,  scarcely  diminished  by  the  loss  of  the 
small  part  acting  to  clear  the  water  of  all  colouring  and  vegetable 
impregnation. 

From  the  large  proportion  of  lime  held  in  solution  by  lime-stone 


LIME-STONE   WATERS.  367 

springs,  and  the  streams  proceeding  from  them,  and  also  by  rain 
floods  passing  over  lime-stone  soils,  it  must  be  inferred  (according 
to  my  views),  that  such  waters  must  very  quickly  combine  with 
and  precipitate  all  colouring  matters,  and,  when  not  turbid  with 
earthy  matter,  be  as  transparent  as  water  can  possibly  be.  Hence, 
the  well  known  and  remarkable  transparency  of  such  water  is  not 
directly  caused  (as  commonly  understood)  by  lime  being  contained 
in  them — but  because  of  the  other  adulterations  being  totally  re- 
moved  in  combination  with  a  part  of  that  dissolved  lime.  Thus, 
the  water  is  not  in  the  least  made  crystalline  and  transparent  be- 
cause of  what  it  contains,  but  because  of  what  it  has  been  deprived 
of.  And,  therefore,  even  after  all  the  lime  may  have  been  pre- 
cipitated, the  water  must  retain  its  previous  perfect  transparency, 
unless  subsequently  impregnated  with  other  colouring  matter. 

The  additional  supply  of  carbonic  acid  to  water,  which  alone 
gives  to  it  the  power  to  dissolve  or  to  retain  in  solution  even  the 
smallest  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime,  is  not  strongly  held.  It 
is  given  off  by  the  lime-stone  water  in  its  partial  evaporation,  and 
to  every  contact  of  atmospheric  air ;  and  this  operation  is  increased 
by  such  agitation  of  the  water  as  exposes  a  larger  surface  to  the 
air.  Hence,  at  all  rapids  of  lime-stone  streams,  there  is  a  pecu- 
liarly rapid  and  large  deposition  of  carbonate  of  lime,  let  loose  by 
the  water  because  of  the  loss  of  the  proportion  of  carbonic  acid 
which  before  served  to  hold  the  lime  dissolved  in  the  water.  This 
precipitation  and  gradual  accumulation  of  carbonate  of  lime,  at  the 
rapids  and  cascades  of  streams,  is  the  formation  called  calcareous 
tufa  or  travertine,  and  vulgarly  called  "  marl"  in  our  mountain 
region,  and  which  is  presented  in  great  quantity,  and  sometimes  in 
enormous  masses. 

As  lime-stone  water  so  easily  parts  with  the  carbonic  acid  which 
enables  it  to  hold  lime  in  solution,  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that 
any  of  the  acid  remains  after  the  water  collects  and  remains  long 
in  the  great  reservoirs  formed  in  lakes.  But  whether  the  water 
remains  impregnated  with  carbonic  acid,  and  of  course  with  lime, 
or"  has  lost  both,  the  effect  is  the  same,  and  is  exhibited  most 
strongly  in  the  remarkable  transparency  of  lakes  so  formed.  Of 
such,  I  have  never  myself  witnessed  any  but  of  Lake  George,  in 
New  York.  And  after  the  long  lapse  of  time  since  my  short  visit 
to  this  lake,  I  cannot  remember  to  what  extent  the  transparency 
of  its  waters  was  asserted,  or  what  my  own  personal  observation 
ascertained.  I  only  remember  certainly  that  the  depth  of  water 
through  which  very  small  objects  were  distinctly  visible  was  very 
great,  and  that  no  ground  was  left  to  doubt  what  is  generally 
asserted  and  received  as  true  on  that  head. 

To  return  to  the  lands  and  waters  of  Prince  George  county. 
The  water  left  by  heavy  rains,  standing  in  shallow  pools  on  the 


368  BLACK   WATERS. 

high  level  wood-land,  and  flowing  off  in  temporary  rivulets,  is  seen 
to  be  coloured  by  vegetable  matter  even  within  a  mile  of  James 
river,  just  as  it  is  found  on  the  other  lands  sloping  towards  the 
Blackwater.  But  in  either  and  every  known  case  of  such  dis- 
coloration being  caused,  it  is  on  poor  and  acid  land.  No  such 
effect  takes  place  on  calcareous  or  even  neutral  soil,  no  matter  how 
abundantly  it  is  provided  with  dead  leaves  or  other  vegetable  mat- 
ter. Therefore  it  is  manifest  that  it  is  not  diffei-ence  of  locality, 
but  difference  of  soil,  which  causes  the  different  effects  of  the 
surplus  rain-water  becoming  tinged,  and  remaining  tinged  with 
vegetable  extract,  or  otherwise  remaining  colourless.  And  also, 
after  the  water  has  been  so  tinged,  that  it  depends  on  the  difference 
of  chemical  composition  in  the  soils  over  which  it  passes,  or  of  the 
streams  into  which  it  is  discharged,  whether  the  colour  remains  or 
is  quickly  discharged.  And,  as  already  stated,  this  difference  of 
action  and  effect  depends  on  the  absence  or  presence  of  lime  in  the 
soils  or  waters  to  which  the  coloured  excess  of  rain-water  flows. 

It  is  only  in  the  surplus  quantity  of  rain-water,  or  that  which  is 
more  than  the  soil  can  absorb,  that  this  colouring  matter  is  seen. 
But  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that  all  of  the  much  greater  quantity 
of  water  from  more  gentle  and  more  frequent  rains  which  soak 
into  the  earth,  must  also  be  more  or  less  tinged  with  the  colouring 
matter  of  the  leaves  and  other  dead  vegetable  matter  through 
which  the  water  passes,  and  must  take  up,  in  passing,  all  that  is 
then  easily  soluble,  and  not  chemically  combined  with  some  other 
body.  Thus,  every  gentle  and  soaking  rain  probably  carries  into 
the  soil  the  greater  part  of  all  the  then  soluble  vegetable  matter, 
and  that  only  which  is  soluble  is  all  that  is  then  completely  ready 
to  act  as  food  for  plants.  The  same  rain,  and  the  subsequent 
chemical  action  of  air  and  warmth,  cause  the  decomposition  of  the 
before  insoluble  vegetable  matter  to  recommence,  and  in  a  few 
days  there  is  a  renewed  supply  of  soluble  or  extractive  matter 
formed  in  the  vegetable  cover  of  the  soil,  ready  to  be  dissolved  and 
to  be  carried  into  the  earth  bv  the  next  succeeding  rain. 

ouch  is  nature  s  process  of  furnishing  alimentary  manure,  or 
the  food  of  plants,  to  soils.  And  the  source  of  supply  is  unlimit- 
ed ;  for  it  is  principally  from  the  atmosphere  and  water,  and  by 
fixing  their  elements  (oxygen,  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  and  carbon),  that 
the  vegetable  growths  of  soils,  and  consequently  all  alimentary 
manures,  are  formed. 

Enormous  then  as  is  the  continual  waste  of  vegetable  ex- 
tractive matter  and  manure  that  is  caused  by  every  heavy  rain,  and 
which  is  always  evident  to  the  eye  iu  the  black  waters  of  so  many 
ponds  and  streams,  all  this  lost  fertilizing  matter  must  be  in  very 
small  proportion,  compared  to  the  greater  quantity  that  is  carried 
more  gradually  and  frequently  into  the  earth.     Much  the  greater 


BLACK    WATERd.  36U 

part  of  the  wood-land  of  lower  Virginia  is  most  freely  and  abund- 
antly thus  supplied,  not  only  because  of  the  abundant  sources  prc- 
Bfeated  in  a  thick  layer  of  fallen  leaves,  the  growth  of  many 
successive  years,  but  also  because  of  the  very  level  surface  of  the 
land,  which  obstructs  the  flowing  ofilof  the  surplus  rain-water,  and 
the  general  sandy  and  open  texture  of  the  soil  and  sub-soil,  which 
operate  to  absorb  quickly  the  water  and  its  dissolved  vegetable 
matter.  Yet  it  is  more  especially  these  lands  that  show  the  least 
remaining  and  abiding  store  of  this  supply  of  vegetable  manure. 
The  soil,  or  all  of  the  upper  part  which  shows  any  colour  from 
containing  vegetable  matter,  is  usually  not  more  than  two  inches 
thick  on  sandy  soils,  and  still  less  on  the  stiffest ;  and  all  the  por- 
tion below  (though  necessarily  manured  by  being  often  soaked  to 
a  foot  or  more  with  rain-water  conveying  all  its  dissolved  vegeta- 
ble extract),  is  entirely  barren  and  worthless.  Such  results  would 
be  as  inexplicable  as  they  are  wonderful,  but  for  the  reasons  afford- 
ed by  the  doctrine  of  the  combining  and  fixing  powers  of  carbonate 
of  lime  and  vegetable  salts  of  lime ;  the  absence  of  which  ingre- 
dients is  the  sole  defect  in  these  cases,  and  which,  when  present  in 
soils,  show  results  of  fertilization  altogether  the  reverse  of  these. 
"Where  lime  is  present  in  sufficient  quantity,  no  colouring  or  ma- 
nuring matter  is  lost  to  the  soil  in  the  flowing  off  of  surplus  water,  ■ 
nor  in  the  wasteful  and  profitless  decomposition  of  the  greater 
quantity  of  colouring  and  alimentary  matter  soaked  into  the  earth. 
My  observation  was  not  attracted  to  the  cause  of  the  existence 
of  black  waters,  and  this  application  of  the  facts,  until  nearly  the 
close  of  my  residence  in  the  country,  and  of  my  opportunities  for 
i  personal  and  accurate  observation.  And  I  am  well  aware,  aud 
ready  to  admit,  that  previous  observations,  made  by  mere  chance 
and  without  object,  are  worth  very  little  comparatively.  I  there- 
fore would  be  glad  to  have  the  attention  of  other  observers  drawn 
to  this  point,  and  any  facts  to  be  elicited  that  will  either  confirm 
or  disprove  my  positions.  From  inquiries  made  of  persons  who 
have  had  ample  opportunity  to  observe  what  waters  were  either 
permanently  black  or  without  tinge  of  such  vegetable  stain,  I  have 
heard  the  following  general  statement  of  facts,  on  which  my  com- 
ments will  be  offered  as  the  facts  are  presented. 

Streams  and  ponds  of  black  waters  are  rarely  seen  above  the  falls 
of  the  rivers  ;  and  are  believed  to  be  very  rarely  found  even  twenty 
to  thirty  miles  above.  They  are  never  seen  in  the  still  higher 
lime-stone  region.  If  this  opinion  be  correct,  then  these  waters 
are  confined  exclusively  (as  they  certainly  are  mainly)  to  the  region 
of  soil  of  the  most  acid  quality.  At  the  distance  above  the  falls 
where  black  waters  are  never  found,  the  high  laud  was  naturally  in 
general  of  good  quality,  and  the  bottom  or  alluvial  lands,  on  small 
streams,  invariably  of  good  soil.    Of  course  these  qualities  indi- 


370  CONFINED   TO   ACID   SOILS. 

cate  more  of  lime  in  the  soil;  and,  according  to  my  views,  also  the 
inability  of  water  to  become  black,  or  at  least  to  remain  coloured.* 

The  waters  of  Blackwater  river  and  its  tributary  streams  and 
swamps  become  darker  in  autumn,  owing  to  the  low  level  of  the 
surface  at  that  season.  This  is^according  to  sound  reason ;  as  eva- 
poration of  the  solvent  fluid  necessarily  increases  the  strength  of 
the  solution.  But  this  cause  is  held  by  most  persons  as  secondary 
in  force  to  another,  viz. :  the  dropping  of  the  leaves,  and  especially 
of  the  numerous  black-gum  trees,  and  their  berries,  at  that  season, 
on  the  swamps  and  in  the  streams.  Of  course  such  is  the  source 
of  the  colouring  matter ;  but  it  would  produce  no  notable  or  abid- 
ing effect,  but  for  the  want  of  lime  both  in  the  soil  and  in  the  wa- 
ter. The  extensive  tide  swamps  on  the  creeks  of  James  river^are 
covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  trees,  of  which  a  large  proportion 
are  black-gums.  Yet  in  the  numerous  rills  trickling  or  oozing  out 
of  these  soils,  after  some  days  of  low  tides,  I  have  never  observed 
the  water  to  be  dark,  or  in  the  least  discoloured.  Yet  the  soil  of 
these  tide  swamps  is  as  much  of  vegetable  formation  as  any  capa- 
ble of  bearing  trees,  and  is  believed  to  be  more  so  than  the  swamp 
lands  of  Blackwater  river  and  its  tributaries.  Therefore  it  is  not 
the  abundance  of  dead  vegetable  matter  in  a  soil,  nor  the  quantity  or 
kind  of  leaves  furnished  by  the  trees  growing  on  it,  which  alone  or 
together  produce  coloured  waters.  The  earthy  portion  of  the  soil 
of  these  tide  marshes  and  swamps,  small  as  is  its  amount,  is  not 
acid,  but  neutral,  and  the  lime  contained  serves  to  prevent  the  wa- 
ter remaining  discoloured. 

Yet  this  is  not  always  the  case  on  tide  swamps.  The  waters  of 
Pocomoke  river,  flowing  into  the  Chesapeake,  are  black,  which  I 
presume  is  owing  to  the  deficiency  of  lime  in  the  water  and  in  the 
surface  soil  of  the  lands  from  which  the  waters  flow. 

The  great  Dismal  Swamp  of  Virginia  and  its  lake,  and  the  still 
more  extensive  swamps  and  lakes  of  North  Carolina,  all  present 
black  waters,  and  which  may  all  be  accounted  for  by  the  reasons 
here  given. 

Neither  is  it  necessary  that  marl  beds  should  be  wanting  to  pro- 
duce the  effect  of  black  waters.  It  is  only  necessary  that  the  marl 
(no  matter  how  abundant)  should  be  so  far  below  the  surface  as 
not  to  affect  the  overflowing  waters,  and  that  the  soil  of  the  higher 
lands  should  be  generally  of  acid  quality.  Such  are  the  lands  on 
Blackwater  river  and  its  tributaries.    And  though  marl  was  scarcely 

*  The  extract  translated  from  M.  Puvis'  "Essai  sur  la  Mame"  and  intro- 
duced at  page  150  of  this  essay,  affords  testimony  that  the  facts  in  regard 
to  the  existence  and  localities  of  black  waters  in  France  accord  strictly 
with  the  views  presented  in  this  article.  This  writer  says  that,  "during  tho 
month  of  August,  the  water  of  the  ponds  on  calcareous  soil  does  not  be- 
come blackish,  as  often  happens  in  silicious  ponds." 


MARL   AND   MARLING   IN   EUROPE.  371 

known  anywhere  there  twenty  years  ago,  it  is  now  known  to  bo 
abundant,  and  generally, to  be  found,  though  almost  always  a  few 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  low  lands. 

Many  persons  who  would  concur  with  me  as  to  the  premises  and 
results,  would  yet  ascribe  the  colouring  of  certain  waters  to  the 
more  level  surface  of  the  land,  and  the  more  sluggish  and  stagnant 
state  of  the  waters ;  and  would  suppose  the  absence  of  colouring 
matter  in  the  waters  of  the  upper  country  to  be  caused  by  the 
rapidity  of  the  descent  and  of  the  passage  of  the  streams.  This 
would  be  a  correct  view,  if  the  matter  in  question  were  the  degree 
of  intensity  of  colour,  instead  of  the  existence  or  entire  absence  of 
colour.  It  is  true,  and  obvious,  that  if  the  coloured  waters  which 
now  creep  and  stagnate  over  the  level  lands  below  the  falls,  had  as 
rapid  a  descent  and  free  discharge  as  the  mountain  torrents,  their 
colour  could  not  become  darker,  with  time,  by  long  infusion  of  the 
leaves,  nor  by  evaporation  of  still  waters.  But  though  the  colour 
would  be  much  more  pale,  its  existence  would  not  be  the  less  cer- 
tain. The  source  of  colouring  matter,  the  soaking  of  dead  leaves, 
&c,  in  rain-water,  is  as  abundant  in  the  upper  as  in  the  lower 
country ;  and  the  more  rapid  discharge  of  the  waters,  if  no  other 
cause  of  clearing  them  operated,  would  not  prevent  their  becoming 
and  remaining  coloured,  as  generally,  and,  however  more  pale  in 
tint,  would  be  seen  as  obviously,  as  in  the  most  level  lands.  But 
this  is  not  all.  Though  there  is  almost  no  level  land,  and  therefore 
no  swamps  in  the  hilly  or  still  less  in  the  mountain  region,  there 
are  mill-ponds  in  the  lower  hilly  country,  and  natural  lakes  in  the 
mountain  region.  If  there  was  the  slightest  tint  of  dissolved  colour- 
ing matter  in  the  streams,  the  waters  when  collected  in  these  deep 
reservoirs  could  not  fail  to  exhibit  the  colour  much  more  deeply. 
Yet  no  one  such  fact  is  known,  or  is  believed  to  have  existence. 


NOTE  II. — Extension  op  the  subject  op  pages  108 — 1.13. 

The  statements  of  British  authors  on  marl,  and  their  applications 
of  the  name,  generally  incorrect,  and  often  contradictory.  Both 
the  terms  "  maM"  and  "  marling"  have  different  significations 
in  Britain  and  in  Virginia. 

Custom  has  compelled  me  to  apply  improperly  the  name  marl 
to  our  deposits  of  fossil  shells.  But  as  I  have  defined  the  ma- 
nuring by  means  of  this  substance,  which  is  called  marling  (and 
for  which  I  suggested  calxing  as  a  much  better  and  also  more  com- 
prehensive name),  to  be  simply  rendering  a  soil  calcareous — any 
term  used  for  that  operation  would  serve,  if  its  meaning  was  always 
kept  in  view.     But,  unfortunately,  this  term  (marling)  is  of  old 


o72  MAUL   AND    .MARLING    IN    EUROPE. 

and  frequent  use  in  English  books,  with  very  different  meanings. 
The  existence  of  these  differences,  andjjprrors,  has  been  stated 
generally  in  a  foregoing  part  .of  this  Essay,  and  here  will  be  adduced 
the  proofs,  in  quotations  from  many  authors.  I  maintain,  and  will 
establish  the  following  propositions  : — 

1.  By  nearly  or  quite  all  of  the  older  (and  even  some  of  the 
modern)  British  authors,  the  tei-m  marl  was  applied  to  clays  (or 
earths)  containing  no  calcareous  matter ;  and  even  when  calcareous 
Garth  was  known  to  be  contained  in  marl,  that  ingredient  was  not 
deemed  (if  indeed  it  was)  the  essential  or  the  most  valuable  fertiliz- 
ing quality  of  the  manure. 

2.  The  marls  of  Europe,  whether  as  correctly  defined  or  under- 
stood by  modern  writers  and  scientific  agriculturists,  or  as  often 
miscalled  and  misunderstood  by  illiterate  cultivators — are  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  deposits  of  fossil  shells,  called  marl  in  this 
country. 

3.  Even  when  the  chemical  character,  and  the  manuring  action 
(in  like  applications)  of  the  marls  of  England  and  Virginia  are 
the  same  (that  is,  agreeing  in  being  both  calcareous) — still  the  ordi- 
nary marlings  of  the  former  arc  quite  a  different  manuring  opera- 
tion from  the  marling  (or  calxing)  advised  in  this  Essay — inasmuch 
as  the  lands  so  manured  in  England  were  mostly  calcareous  before, 
either  by  natural  constitution,  or  by  previous  marling — and  there- 
fore were  not  made  calcareous  (or  calxed)  by  the  dressing  in 
question. 

4.  In  many  cases  of  published  statements  of,  or  references  to 
marling  labours  or  improvements  in  England,  the  reader  is  left  in 
doubt  whether  the  marl  or  the  soil  was  calcareous — or  which  the 
most  so — and  therefore,  whether  the  "  marling"  served  to  increase 
or  to  lessen,  or  had  not  materially  altered  the  proportion  of  tho 
previous  calcareous  contents  of  the  soil. 

5.  The  marling  of  England,  especially,  has  been  almost  entirely 
empirical — and  not  directed  by  theory,  reasoning,  or  by  inferences 
drawn  from  the  known  (or  even  surmised)  chemical  constitution 
of  either  the  soil  or  the  earthy  manure  applied. 

These  assertions  refer  principally,  but  not  exclusively,  to  the 
writers  on  agriculture  of  former  and  less  enlightened  times  than 
the  present  or  recent.  Scarcely  any  exception  is  known  in  works 
much  older  than  the  institution  of  the  British  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture, in  1795.  Before  that  time,  the  errors  which  I  shall  adduce 
prevailed  almost  universally,  in  books  as  well  as  in  vulgar  language 
and  opinion.  And  these  older  writers  were,  to  much  later  times, 
the  unquestioned  authorities  of  the  earliest  agricultural  writers  of 
America,  as  well  as  of  all  our  other  readers  and  thinkers.  And 
the  aid  of  all  the  more  correct  information  as  to  the  true  character 
of  marl,  afforded  by  the  more  recent  British  writers,  it  seems  has 


CORRECT   DEFINITION'S    OF    MAUL.  u<3 

cleared  away  but  little  of  the  before  general  obscuration  on  this 
subject  in  their  own  country.  Of  such  remaining  ignorance,  or  its 
appearance,  striking  and  recent  examples  will  be  presented. 

The  passages  to  be  quoted  will  exhibit  so  fully  the  contradictions 
and  ignorance  generally  prevailing  as  to  the  nature  of  whatever 
was  called  marl,  and  the  operation  of  calcareous  manures  generally, 
that  it  will  not  be  required  for  me  to  express  dissent  in  every  case, 
or  to  point  out  the  errors  of  facts  or  of  reasoning,  which  will  appear 
so  manifestly  and  abundantly  in  some  of  the  quotations. 

But  besides  the  errors  and  even  absurdities  of  opinions  and  prac- 
tices in  regard  to  marl  or  lime,  which  some  of  these  passages  will 
show,  there  will  be  presented  in  connexion  some  correct,  precise, 
and  very  interesting  facts.  Among  these  will  be  definitions  and 
descriptions  by  recent  authors  of  marl  proper,  and  also  the  varieties 
known  in  Britain'  by  the  provincial  names  of  "  clay"  or  "  clay 
marl,"  and  the  "shell  marl"  formed  only  in  ancient  lakes,  since 
changed  to  peat  bogs.  These  passages,  though  some  of  them  are 
the  very  latest  in  the  order  of  time,  will  be  offered  first — so  that 
what  is  sound  and  true  may  be  kept  in  view,  through  all  the  mass 
of  error  that  will  be  afterwards  presented. 

1.  "  Compact  limestone,  by  an  increase  of  argillaceous  matter,  passes 
into  marl."  "Marl  is  essentially  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime  and  clay, 
in  vanous  proportions.-' — Cleaveland' s  Mineralogy. 

2.  "  Marl  is  a  compound  of  carbonate  of  lime,  argil  [finest  clay]  and  of 
silicious  sand.  The  sand  appears  to  be  only  in  a  state  of  mixture,  and 
may  be,  ■when  not  very  fine,  separated  easily.  But  the  argil  and  carbo- 
nate of  lime  in  marl  (like  the  alumina  and  silica  in  argil),  seem  to  be  a 
[chemical]  combination,  and  not  a  simple  mixture." — Puvis — Easai  surla 
Marne. 

"Marl  seems  to  be,  in  most  cases,  a  formation  of  fresh  'water." — Puvis — 
Translation,  Farmers'  Register,  vol.  iii.  p.  6(J2. 

3.  '•  Marl  is  a  combination  of  carbonate  of  lime  and  clay.  These  two 
bodies  are  usually  found  in  so  complete  a  state  of  amalgamation,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  distinguish  the  particles  of  one  from  those  of  the  other,  either 
with  the  naked  eye,  or  with  the  aid  of  the  microscope."  "  When  water  is 
poured  upon  marl,  that  fluid  penetrates,  with  greater  or  less  facility,  into 
all  its  pores,  destroys  the  cohesion  of  the  parts,  separates  them  from  one 
another,  and  reduces  them  to  a  fine  powder.  This  is  one  of  the  essential 
properties,  which  serves  as  the  first  distinction  of  marl,"  &o. 

"It  certainly  cannot  be  admitted  as  a  principle  that  any  kind  of  earth 
which  loses  its  aggregation  in  water  must  necessarily  be  marl,  since  some 
very  poor  clays  are  affected  in  the  same  manner;  but  if  any  kind  of  earth 
is  not  spontaneously  reduced  to  powder  by  the  action  of  water,  we  may 
feel  convinced  that  it  is  not  marl.  Every  kind  of  marl,  even  that  which  is 
called  'stony,'  becomes  soft  and  pulverized  in  water." — Von  Thaer's  Prin- 
ciples of  Agriculture. 

It  appears  from  different  authors  that  the  proportions  of  carbo- 
nate of  lime  in  marl  usually  vary  from  20  to  more  than  GO  per 
R9 


374  CLAY    MARL    AND  *ULLL   MAUL. 

cent.    "When  much  richer,  say  near  or  quite  80  per  cent.,  it  becomes 
of  stony  hardness,  or  passes  into  lime-stone. 

In  Britain  the  marls  most  abounding  in  clay  are  called  "  clay 
marl,"  and  vulgarly  "  clay"  simply.  This  is  the  kind  most  gene- 
rally used,  and  in  enormous  quantities.  Stephens  (in  the  latest 
edition  of  his  "Book  of  the  Farm"),  offers  the  first  precise  in- 
formation that  I  have  seen,  as  it  is  also  the  most  recent  of  the 
component  parts  of  this  marl,  as  follows  : — from  Johnston  on  the 
Use  of  Lime. 

4.  "The  following  analysis  may  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  composition  of  a 
clay  marl."     This  specimen  was  found  in  Ayrshire. 

Carbonate  of  lime  .             .             .             .  8.4 

Oxide  of  iron  and  alumina  .             .             .  2.2 

Organic  matter         .  .                          .             .  2.8 

Clay,  and  silicious  matter  .             .       *    .  84.9 

Water            .  ....  1.4 

99.7 

Every  one  who  has  observed  what  is  called  marl  in  lower  Vir- 
ginia will  recognise  its  entire  disagreement  with  the  true  marl 
described  in  all  the  foregoing  quotations,  in  every  physical  or 
mechanical  property,  in  texture,  and  in  its  manifest  origin  or  for- 
mation. • 

5.  "Shell  Marl. — In  some  parts  of  the  country,  as  in  Forfarshire  [Scot- 
land,] this  substance  is  found  in  great  quantities  associated  with  peat. 
.  .  .  .  It  is  taken  out  of  the  bogs  by  means  of  a  boat  mounted  with  a 
dredging  apparatus.  When  of  fine  quality  and  in  a  dry  state,  it  is  as 
white  as  lime,  not  crumbling  down  into  powder  like  quick-lime,  but  cutting 

something  like  cheese,  with  the  spade It  is  applied  at  40  to 

50  bolls  (8  cubic  feet)  to  the  acre.  When  applied  as  lime,  it  is  beneficial; 
but,  as  is  often  the  case,  when  ajiplied  solely  as  manure,  in  quantities  of  35 
to  45  cubic  yards  to  the  acre,  it  never  fails  to  be  mischievous.  It  does  not 
easily  injure  new  fresh  land ;   [Qu.  the  first  time  applied  ?]  but  w hen  re- 

I :J  frequently,  as  a  sole  manuring,  I  have  seen  land  reduced  to  such  a 
state  of  pulverization,  that  the  foot,  with  a  stamp,  sank  into  the  ground  as 
deep  as  the  ankle.  Applied  to  lands  followed  by  severe  cropping,  it  has 
reduced  them  to  a  state  of  utter  sterility,  which  they  have  not  recovered 
from  to  this  day." — {Stejrftcns'  Book  of  the  Farm,  or  Farmers'  Guide,  1850  ; 
Headrick's  Survey  of  Forfarshire.) 

This  "shell  marl"  consists  of 
"Carbonate  of  lime 
Oxide  of  iron  and  alumina  . 
Organic  matter    .... 
Insoluble,  chiefly  silicious  matters 

100.  100. 

This  substance,  according  to  its  analysis  above,  is  undoubtedly 
the  most  valuable  of  all  calcareous  manures.     But  still  it  is  not 


Top  of  bed. 

Bottom  of  bed 

77.6 

81.7 

1.8 

0.6 

14.6 

14.6 

6.0 

3.1 

'' mauls''  not  calcareous.  075 

marl,  cither  as  understood  by  mineralogists  and  scientific  agricul- 
turists in  Europe,  or  as  marl  is  known  in  this  country.  This  peculiar 
formation  (the  deposit  of  the  shells  of  fresh-water  molluscs  in  what 
had  been  ancient  lakes,  and  which  since  became  peat-bogs),  has 
been  referred  to  previously,  and  will  be  again,  in  another  connexion. 
So  far,  all  the  earths  culled  marl  have  been  calcareous.  But  all 
arc  not  so  that  are  recognised  under  that  name,  even  by  modern 
ifnd  well  informed  writers,  who  certainly  knew  the  chemical  cha- 
racter (in  this  respect;),  of  the  earths  referred  to.  In  "  British 
Husbandry,"  a  recent  work  of  authority,  prepared  for  and  pub- 
lished by  the  "  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Knowledge,"  in  treating 
of  marl,  the  following  passages  occur : — 

6.  "  A  bluish  marl  much  used  in  some  parts  of  Ireland,  and  long  cele* 
brated  as  a  manure,  makes  no  ebullition  with  acids ;  neither  do  several  of 
the  red  marls ;  yet  piany  of  them  are  known  to  be  productive  of  great  im- 
provement to  land."  p.  2G5.  "Out  of  12  specimens  of  marl  submitted  to 
Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  11  were  found  to  contain  calcareous  earth;  but  the 
result  of  many  other  trials  of  marls,  from  different  parts  of  the  country, 
and  found  by  farmers  to  produce  an  ameliorating  effect  on  the  land,  yet 
proves  them  to  be,  in  many  instances,  wholly  deficient  in  that  substance." 
See  "Marl"  in  Holland's  Report  "On  Cheshire. 

Now  whatever  of  fertilizing  properties  these  earths  contained, 
they  were  not  marl  in  the  proper  understanding  of  that  term,  nor 
do  they  agree  with  our  marl  in  any  stated  character,  either  chemi- 
cal or  physical. 

An  earlier,  though  yet  a  modern  writer,  Marshall,  has  also  de- 
scribed a  valuable  "marl"  of  Norfolk,  England,  which  is  almost 
destitute  of  calcareous  matter. 

7.  "  The  red  earth  which  has  been  set  upon  the  lands  of  this  district,  in 
great  abundance,  as  'marl,'  is  much  of  it  in  a  manner  destitute  of  calca- 
reous matter ;  and,  of  course,  cannot,  with  propriety,  be  classed  among 
marls.  Nevertheless,  a  red  fossil  is  found,  in  some  parts  of  the  district, 
which  contains  a  proportion  of  calcareous  matter.  The  marl  of  Croxall 
(in  part  of  a  stone-like,  or  slaty  contexture,  and  of  a  light  red  colour)  is 
the  richest  in  calcareosity  ;  one  hundred  grains  of  it  afford  thirty  grains  of 
calcareous  matter ;  and  seventy  grains  of  fine,  impalpable,  red-bark-like 
powder.*  And  a  marl  of  Elford  (in  colour  and  contexture  various,  but  re- 
sembling those  of  the  Croxall  marl)  affords  near  twenty  grains.    Yet  the 

*  This  marl  is  singularly  tenacious  of  its  calcareous  matter ;  dissolving 
remarkably  slowly.  One  hundred  grains,  roughly  pounded,  was  twenty- 
four  hours  in  dissolving ;  and  another  hundred,  though  pulverized  to  mere 
dust,  continued  to  effervesce  twelve  hours ;  notwithstanding  it  was  first 
saturated  with  water,  and  afterward  shaken  repeatedly.  The  Breedon  stone, 
roughly  pounded,  dissolved  in  half  the  time ;  notwithstanding  its  extreme 
hardness.  [I  strongly  suspect  that  Marshall  used  nitric  acid  in  this  trial, 
and  was  deceived  by  the  slow  solution  of  carbonate  of  iron,  with  some 
ebullition,  and  that  there  was  as  little  calcareous  earth  as  in  the  other 
cases.  I  have  never  experienced  such  slow  solution  of  carbonate  of  linie, 
in  strong  acid.    E.  R.] 


376  <•  mauls''  not  caxca&eous. 

marl  of  Barton,  <tn  the  opposite  side  of  the  Trent — though  somewhat  of  a 
similar  coiitextuio,  hut  of  a  darker,  more  dusky  colour — is  in  a  manner 

destitute  of  calcareosity  !  one  hundred  grains  of  it  yielding  little  more  than 
one  grain — not  two  grains  of  calcareona  matter.  Nevertheless,  the  pit,  (rum 
which  I  took  the  specimens  analyzed,  is  an  immense  excavation,  out  of 
which  many  thousand  loads  have  been  taken.  And  the  marls  of  this 
neighbourhood  (which  mostly  differ  in  appearance  from  those  desoribed, 
having  generally  that  of  a  blood-red  clay,  iuterlayered.  and  sometimes  in- 
termingled with  a  white  gritty  substance)  are  equally  poor  in  calcareosity. 
One  hundred  grains  of  the  marl  of  Stafford  (which  I  believe  may  be  ti 
as  a  fair  specimen  of  the  red  clays  of  this  quarter  of  the  district)  afford 
little  more  than  two  grainy  of  calcareous  matter — lodged  not  in  the  sub- 
stance of  the  clay,  but  in  its  natural  cracks,  or  fissures.  Yet  this  is  said 
to  be  'famous  marl;'  and  from  the  pits  which  now  appear,  has  been  laid 
041  in  great  abundance. 

'•I  do  not  mean  to  intimate,  that  these  clays  are  altogether  destitute  of 
fertilizing  properties,  on  their  first  application.  It  is  not  likely  that  the 
large  pits  which  abound  in  almost  every  part  of  the  district,  and  which 
must  have  been  formed  at  a  very  great  expense,  should  have  been  dug, 
without  their  contents  being  productive  of  some  evidently,  or  at  least  ap- 
parently good  effect,  on  the  lands  on  which  they  have  been  spread.  I  con- 
fess, however,  that  this  is  but  conjecture ;  and  it  may  be,  that  the  good 
effect  of  the  marls  first  described  being  experienced,  the  fashion  was  set; 
and  the  distinguishing  quality  being  unknown,  or  not  attended  to,  marls 
and  clavs  were  indiscriminately  used." — Marshall's  Midland  Counties,  vol. 
i.  p.  152. 

8.  "On  the  southern  banks  of  the  Anker,  is  found  a  gray  marl;  re- 
sembling in  general  appearance  the  marl  of  Norfolk,  or  rather  the  fuller's 
earth  of  Surrey.  In  contexture  it  is  loose  and  friable.  This  earth  is  sin- 
gularly prodigal  of  its  calcareosity.  The  acid  being  dropped  on  its  surface, 
it  flies  into  bubbles  as  the  Norfolk  marl.  This  circumstance,  added  to  that 
of  a  striking  improvement,  which  I  was  shown  as  being  effected  by  this 
earth,  led  me  to  imagine  that  it  was  of  quality  similar  to  the  marls  of 
Norfolk.  But,  from  the  results  of  two  experiments — one  of  them  made 
with  granules  formed  by  the  weather,  and  collected  on  the  site  of  improve- 
ment, the  other  with  a  specimen  taken  from  the  pit,  it  appears  that  one 
hundred  grains  of  this  earth  contain  no  more  than  six  grains  of  calcareous 
matter !  the  residuum  a  cream-coloured  saponaceous  clay,  with  a  small 
proportion  of  coarse  sand." — Marshall's  Midland  Counties,  vol.  i.  p.  155. 

In  the  latter  quotations  are  presented  separately  the  proofs  from 
authors  fully  competent  to  try  and  know  the  remarkable  facts 
stated  of  many  well  approved  "  marls,"  so  called,  being  nearly  or 
entirely  destitute  of  calcareous  earth !  I  will  now  go  bt  -j 
to  older  writers,  who  treat  of  marls  without  noticing  that  ingredient 
as  being  present,  or  without  seeming  to  be  aware  that  its  presence 
would  be  useful. 

The  learned  and  also  practical  Miller  thus  defines  and  describes 
marl,  in  the  Abridgment  of  the  Gardener's  Dictionary,  fifth  Lon- 
don edition,  1763,  at  the  article  marl: 

"  'Marl  is  a  kind  of  clay  which  is  become  fatter  and  of  a  more  enriching 
quality,  by  a  better  fermentation,  and  by  its  having  lain  so  deep  in  the 
earth  as  not  to  have  spent  or  weakened  its  fertilizing  quality  by  any  pro* 
duct. 


MARL  NOT  KNOWN  TO  BE  CALCAREOUS.        377 

"Maria  arc  of  different  qualities  in  different  counties  of  England.  There 
are  reckoned  four  kinds  of  marl  in  Sussex,  a  gray,  a  blue,  a  yellow,  and  a, 
red;  of  these  the  blue  is  accounted  the  best,  the  yellow  the  next,  and  the 
gray  the  next  to  that ;  and  as  for  the  red,  that  is  the  least  valuable. 

"  In  Cheshire  they  reckon  six  sorts  of  marl  : 

"  1.  The  cowshut  marl,  which  is  of  a  brownish  colour,  with  blue  veins  in 
it,  and  little  lumps  of  chalk  or  limestone  ;  it  is  commonly  found  under  clay, 
or  low  black  land,  seven  or  eight  feet  deep,  and  is  very  hard  to  dig. 

"2.  Stone,  slate,  or  flag  marl,  which  is  a  kind  of  soft  stone,  or  rather 
slate,  of  a  blue  or  bluish  colour,  that  mdl  easily  dissolve  with  frost  or  rain. 
This  is  found  near  rivers,  and  the  sides  of  hills,  and  is  a  very  lasting  sort 
of  marl. 

"3.  Peat  marl,  or  delving  marl,  which  is  close,  strong,*  and  very  fat, 
of  a  brown  colour,  and  is  found  on  the  sides  of  hills,  and  in  wet  or 
boggy  grounds,  which  have  a  light  sand  in  them  about  two  feet  or  a  yard 
deep. 

"  4.  Clay  marl ;  this  resembles  clay,  and  is  pretty  near  akin  to  it,  but  is 
fatter,  and  sometimes  mixed  with  chalk  stones. 

"  5.  Steel  maid,  which  lies  commonly  in  the  bottom  of  pits  that  are  dug, 
and  is  of  itself  apt  to  break  into  cubical  bits ;  this  is  sometimes  under 
sandy  land. 

••  6.  Taper  marl,  which  resembles  leaves  or  pieces  of  brown  paper,  but 
something  of  a  lighter  colour;  this  lies  near  coals. 

"  The  properties  of  any  sorts  of  marls,  by  which  the  goodness  of  them 
may  be  best  known,  are  better  judged  of  by  their  purity  and  uncompound- 
edness,  than  their  colour :  as  if  it  will  break  in  pieces  like  dice,  or  into  thin 
flakes,  or  is  smooth  like  lead  ore,  and  is  without  a  mixture  of  gravel  or  sand ; 
if  it  will  slake  like  slate-stones  and  shatter  after  wet,  or  will  tumble  into 
dust,  when  k  has  been  exposed  to  the  sun ;  or  will  not  hang  and  stick  to- 
gether when  it  is  thoroughly  dry,  like  tough  clay ;  but  is  fat  and  tender, 
and  will  open  the  land  it  is  laid  on,  and  not  bind;  it  may  be  taken  for 
granted  that  it  will  be  beneficial  to  it." 

In  all  these  descriptions,  so  minutely  stated,  both  general  and 
particular,  and  of  ten  different  varieties  of  marl,  there  is  no  indica- 
tion that  calcareous  earth  is  an  essential  constituent  part;  nor  in- 
deed does  it  appear  that  it  was  deemed  a  constituent  part,  proper, 
even  in  the  two  varieties,  in  which  bj£s  of  chalk  are  found.  For 
these  are  accidental  admixtures,  as  would  be  any  silicious  sand,  or 
gravel,  or  land,  or  even  river  shells ;  none  of  which,  if  found  there- 
in, would  properly  belong  to  true  marl. 

The  well-deserved  reputation  of  Miller  is  a  sufficient  guaranty 
that  there  was  no  more  full  or  correct  knowledge  of  marl,  in  his 
time,  than  he  possessed,  and  taught  in  the  foregoing  extracts. 

9.  Johnson's  Dictionary  (octavo  editiou)  defines  marl  in  pre- 
cisely the  words  of  the  first  sentence  of  Miller,  as  quoted  above. 

10.  Walker's  Dictionary  (octavo  edition)  gives  only  the  fol- 
lowing definition — "  Marl — a  kind  of  clay  much  used  for  ma- 
nure." 

*  "Strong"  applied  to  soil  in  England  means  stiff  or  clayey — and  in  this 
sense  I  presume  the  word  is  used  above.     E.  R. 


378  MARL    NOT    KNOWN   TO   BE    CALCAREOUS. 

11.  Kirwan,  on  the  authority  of  Arthur  Youug  and  the  Bath 
Memoirs  [1783,]  states  that, 

"In  some  parts  of  England,  where  husbandry  is  successfully  practised, 
any  loose  clay  is  called  marl ;  in  others,  marl  is  called  chalk,  and  in  others, 
clay  is  called  loam." — Kirwan  on  Manures,  p.  4. 

12.  A  Practical  Treatise  on  Husbandry  (second  London  edition, 
4to.  1762,)  which  professes  to  be  principally  compiled  from  the 
writings  of  Duhamel,  Evelyn,  Home,  and  Miller,  supplies  the  fol- 
lowing quotations : 

"But  of /ill  the  manures  for  sandy  soils,  none  is  so  good  as  marl.  There 
are  many  different  kinds  and  colours  of  it,  severally  distinguished  by  many 
writers ;  but  their  virtue  is  the  same  ;  they  may  be  all  used  upon  the  same 
ground,  without  the  smallest  difference  in  their  effect.  The  colour  is  either 
red,  brown,  yellow,  gray,  or  mixed.  It  is  to  be  known  by  its  pure  and  un- 
compounded  nature.  There  are  many  marks  to  distinguish  it  by ;  such  as 
its  breaking  into  little  square  bits;  its  falling  easily  into  pieces,  by  the 
force  of  a  blow,  or  upon  being  exposed  to  the  sun  and  the  frost ;  its  feeling 
fat  and  oily,  and  shining  when  it  is  dry.  But  the  most  mierring  way  to 
judge  of  marl,  and  know  it  from  any  other  substance,  is  to  break  a  piece  as 
big  as  a  nutmeg,  and  when  it  is  quite  dry,  drop  it  into  a  glass  of  clear 
water,  where,  if  it  be  right,  it  will  dissolve  and  crumble,  as  it  were,  to 
dust,  in  a  little  time,  shooting  up  sparkles  to  the  surface  of  the  water." — 
p.  27. 

Not  the  slightest  hint  is  here  of  any  calcareous  ingredient  being 
necessary,  or  even  serving  in  any  manner  to  distinguish  marl.  But 
afterwards,  in  another  part  of  this  work,  when  shell  marl  is  slightly 
noticed,  it  is  said  : 

"This  effervesces  strongly  with  all  acids,  which  is  perhaps  chiefly  owing 
to  the  shells.  There  are  very  good  marls  which  show  nothing  of  this  effervescence  ; 
and  therefore  the  author  of  the  New  System  of  Agriculture  judged  right  in 
making  its  solution  in  water  the  distinguishing  mark." — p.  29. 

The  last  sentence  declares,  as  clearly  as  any  words  could  do,  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  no  calcareous  ingredient  is  necessary, 
either  to  constitute  the  character,  or  the  value  of  marl.  And 
though  it  may  be  gathered  from  other  parts  of  this  work,  that  what 
is  called  marl  generally  contains  calcareous  earth,  yet  no  import- 
ance seems  attached  to  that  quality,  any  more  than  to  the  particular 
colour  of  the  earth,  or  any  other  accidental  or  immaterial  appearance 
of  some  of  the  varieties  described. 

The  "  shell  marl"  alluded  to  above,  without  explanation  might 
be  supposed  to  be  similar  to  our  beds  of  fossil  shells,  which  are 
called  marl.  The  two  manures  are  very  different  in  form,  appear- 
ance, and  value,  though  agreeing  in  both  being  calcareous.  The 
manure  called  shell  marl  by  the  work  last  quoted  from,  is  described 
there  with  sufficient  precision,  and  more  fully  in  several  parts  of  the 
Edinburgh  Farmers'  Magazine,*  and  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Phila- 

*  See  Farmers'  Register,  vol.  i.,  p.  90. 


CALCAREOUS   QUALITY   NOT   KNOWN.  379 

dclphia  Agricultural  Society,*  [and  in  the  late  edition  of  Stephens' 
Book  of  the  Farm,  as  quoted  above].  It  is  still  more  unlike  marl, 
properly  so  called,  than  any  of  the  substances  described  under  that 
name,  in  the  foregoing  quotations.  This  manure  is  almost  a  pure 
calcareous  earth,  being  formed  of  the  remains  of  small  fresh-water 
shells  deposited  on  what  were  once  the  bottoms  of  lakes,  but  which 
have  since  become  covered  with  log  or  peat  soil.  If  I  may  judge 
from  our  beds  of  mussel  shells  (to  which  this  manure  seems  to  bear 
most  resemblance),  much  putrescent  animal  matter  is  combined 
with,  and  serves  to  give  additional  value  to  these  bodies  of  shells. 
This  kind  of  manure  is  sold  in  Scotland  by  the  bushel,  at  such 
prices  as  show  that  it  is  very  highly  prized.  It  seems  to  be  found 
but  in  few  situations,  and  though  called  a  kind  of  marl,  is  never 
meant  when  that  term  alone  is  used  by  British  writers. 

13.  A  much  older  work  than  either  of  these  referred  to  fur- 
nishes in  part  the  definitions  and  even  the  words  used  above.  This 
is  the  "  Systema  Agriculture?,  the  Mi/stcri/  of  Husbandry  dis- 
covered," published  in  1687 ;  and  the  author  or  compiler  of  that 
old  work  was  probably  indebted  to  others  still  older  for  his  descrip- 
tion of  marl.  For  new  bfioks  on  agriculture,  more  especially, 
have  been  most  generally  made  by  compiling  and  copying  from 
older  ones. 

"  Marie  is  a  very  excellent  thing,  commended  of  all  that  either  vrrite  or 
practise  any  thing  in  husbandry.  There  are  several  kinds  of  it,  some  stony, 
some  soft,  white,  gray,  russet,  yellow,  blew,  black,  and  some  red:  It  is  of  a 
cold  nature  and  saddens  land  exceedingly  ;  and  very  heavy  it  is,  and  'will 
go  downward,  though  not  so  much  as  lime  doth.  The  goodness  or  badness 
thereof  is  not  known  so  much  by  the  colour,  as  by  the  purity  and  uncom- 
poundness  of  it ;  for  if  it  will  break  into  bits  like  a  dye,  or  smooth  like  lead 
oar,  without  any  composition  of  sand  or  gravel ;  or  if  it  will  slake  like  slate- 
stones,  and  slake  or  shatter  after  a  shower  of  rain,  or  being  exposed  to  the 
sun  or  air,  and  shortly  after  turn  to  dust  when  it's  thoroughly  dry  again, 
and  not  congeal  like  tough  clay,  question  not  the  fruitfulness  of  it,  notwith- 
standing the  difference  of  colours,  which  are  no  certain  signs  of  the  good- 
ness of  the  marie.  As  for  the  slipperiness,  viscousness,  fattiness,  or  oyliness 
thereof,  although  it  be  commonly  esteemed  a  sign  of  good  marie,  yet  the 
best  authors  affirm  the  contrary — viz.  that  there  is  very  good  marie  which 
is  not  so,  but  lieth  in  the  mine  pure,  dry  and  short,  yet  nevertheless  if  you 
water  it,  you  will  find  it  slippery.  But  the  best  and  truest  rule  to  know 
the  richness  and  profit  of  your  marie,  is  to  try  a  load  or  two  on  your  lands, 
in  several  places  and  in  ditferent  proportions. 

"  They  usually  lay  the  same  on  in  small  heaps,  and  disperse  it  over  the 
whole  field,  as  they  do  their  dung ;  and  this  marie  will  keep  the  land 
whereon  it  is  laid,  in  some  places  ten  or  fifteen,  and  in  some  places  thirty 
years  in  heart:  it  is  most  profitable  in  dry,  light,  and  barren  lands,  such  as 
is  most  kind  and  natural  for  rye,  as  is  evident  by  Mr.  Blithe's  experiment 
in  his  chapter  of  marie.  It  also  affordeth  not  its  vertue  or  strength  the  first 
year,  so  much  as  in  the  subsequent  years.     It  yields  a  very  great  increase 

*  Vol.  iii.  p.  200. 
32* 


380  AMERICAN   OPINIONS   DERIVED  FROM   ENGLISH. 

awd  advantage  on  high,  sandy,  gravelly,  or  mixed  lands.  Though  never  so 
barren,  strong  clay  ground  is  unsuitable  to  it;  }Tet  if  it  can  be  laid  dry, 
marie  may  be  profitable  on  that  also." 

The  author  then  proceeds  to  direct  the  mode  of  application  more 
particularly  ■  and  if  there  were  any  doubt  as  to  his  total  ignorance 
(or  otherwise  denial)  of  calcareous  earth  being  necessary  to  the 
constitution  of  marl,  that  doubt  would  be  removed  by  a  subsequent 
sentence. 

"You  shall  observe  (saith  Markham,)  that  if  you  cannot  get  dry,  per- 
fect, and  rich  marie,  if  then  you  can  get  of  that  earth  'which  is  called 
fuller's  earth  (and  where  the  one  is  not,  commonly  the  other  is),  then  you 
may  use  it  in  the  same  manner  as  you  should  do  marie,  and  it  is  found  to 
be  very  near  as  profitable." 

14.  Evelyn's  Terra,  or  Philosophical  Discourse  of  Earths, 
&c,  delivered  before  the  Royal  Society  in  1675,  has  the  following 
passage  : 

"Of  marie  (of  a  cold  sad  nature,  a  substance  between  clay  and  chalk), 
seldom  have  we  such  quantities  in  layers  as  we  have  of  forementioned 
earth ;  but  we  commonly  meet  with  it  in  places  affected  to  it,  and  it  is 
taken  out  of  pits,  at  different  depths,  and  of  divers  colours,  red,  white, 
gray,  blue,  all  of  them  unctuous,  and  of  a  slippery  nature,  and  differing  in 
goodness ;  for  being  pure  and  immixt,  it  sooner  relents  after  a  shower,  and 
when  dryed  again,  slackens,  and  crumbles  into  dust,  without  induration, 
and  growing  hard  again.  They  are  profitable  for  barren  grounds,  as 
abounding  in  nitre ;  and  sometimes  there  has  been  found  in  niarle,  del/s,  a 
vitriolic  wood,  which  will  kindle  like  coal." 

The  opinions  expressed  in  the  foregoing  extracts,  prove  suffi- 
ciently that  it  was  not  the  ignorant  cultivators  only,  who  either  did 
not  know  of,  or  attached  no  importance  to  the  calcareous  ingredient 
in  marl;  and  it  was  impossible  that,  from  any  number  of  such 
authors,  an  American  reader  could  learn  that  either  the  object  or 
the  effect  of  marling  was  to  render  a  soil  more  calcareous — or  that 
our  bodies  of  fossil  shells  resembled  marl  in  character,  or  in  opera- 
tion as  a  manure.  Of  this,  the  following  quotation  from  a  modern 
and  also  an  American  agriculturist  and  author,  Bordley,  will  fur- 
nish striking  proof — and  the  more  so  as  he  refers  frequently  to  the 
works  of  Anderson,  and  of  Young,  who  treated  of  marl  and  of  cal- 
careous manures,  in  a  more  scientific  and  correct  manner  than  had 
then  been  usual.  This  author  cannot  be  justly  charged  with  in- 
attention to  the  instruction  to  be  gained  from  books;  for  his  greatest 
fault,  as  an  agriculturist,  is  his  fondness  for  applying  the  practices 
of  the  most  improved  husbandry  of  England,  to  our  lands  and 
situations,  however  different  and  unsuitable — which  he  carried  to 
an  extent  that  is  ridiculous  as  theory,  and  would  be  ruinous  to  the 
farmer  who  should  so  shape  his  general  practice. 

15.  "I  farmed  in  a  country  [the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland]  where 
habits  are  against  a  due  attention  to  manures :  but  having  read  of  the  ap- 


CALCAREOUS   TART   NOT  PRIZED.  381 

plication  of  marl  as  a  manure,  I  inquired  -where  there  was  any  in  the  penin- 
sula of  the  Chesapeake  in  vain-.  My  own  farm  had  a  grayish  clay  which  to 
the  eye  was  marl:  but  because  it  did  not  effervesce  with  acids,  it  waa 
given  up  when  it  ought  to  have  been  tried  on  the  land,  especially  as  it  ra- 
pidly crumbled  and  fell  to  mud,  in  water,  with  some  appearance  of  effer- 
vescence."— Bordlcy's  Husbandry,  2d  ed.,  p.  55. 

That  peninsula,  through  which  Mr.  Bordley  in  vain  inquired  for 
marl,  has  immense  quantities  of  the  fossil  shells  which  we  impro- 
perly call  by  that  name.  But  as  his  search  was  directed  to  marl 
as  described  by  English  authors — and  not  to  calcareous  earth  sim- 
ply— it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he,  well-read  and  intelligent 
as  he  was,  should  neither  find  the  former  substance,  nor  attach 
enough  importance  to  the  latter,  to  induce  the  slightest  remark  on 
its  probable  use  as  manure. 

16.  The  Practical  Treatise  on  Husbandry,  among  the  directions 
for  improving  clay  land,  has  what  follows : 

"  Sea  sand  and  sea  shells  are  used  to  great  advantage  as  a  manure, 
chiefly  for  cold  strong  [i.  e.  clay]  land,  and  loam  inclining  to  clay.  They 
separate  the  parts;  and  the  salts  which  are  contained  in  them  are  a  very 
great  improvement  to  the  land.  Coral,  and  such  kind  of  stony  plants 
which  grow  on  the  rocks,  are  filled  with  salts,  which  are  very  beneficial  to 
land.  But  as  these  bodies  are  hard,  the  improvement  is  not  the  first  or 
Becond  year  after  they  are  laid  on  the  ground,  because  they  require  time  to 
pulverize  them,  before  their  salts  can  mix  with  the  earth  to  impregnate  it. 
The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  their  manure  is  lasting.  Sand,  and  the 
smaller  kind  of  sea  weeds,  will  enrich  land  for  six  or  seven  years ;  and 
6hells,  coral,  and  other  hard  bodies,  will  continue  many  years  longer. 

"  In  some  countries  fossil  shells  have  been  used  with  success  as  manure ; 
but,  they  are  not  near  so  full  of  salts,  as  those  shells  which  are  taken 
from  the  sea-shore ;  and  therefore  the  latter  are  always  to  be  preferred. 
Sea  sand  is  much  used  as  manure  in  Cornwall.  The  best  is  that  which  is 
intimately  mixed  with  coral." — p.  21. 

After  stating  the  manner  in  which  this  "  excellent  manure"  is 
taken  up  from  the  bottom,  in  barges,  its  character  is  thus  con- 
tinued : 

"  It  [i.  e.  the  sea  sand  mixed  with  coral,  as  it  may  happen]  gives  the 
heat  of  lime,  and  the  fatness  of  oil,  to  the  land  it  is  laid  upon.  Being 
more  solid  than  shells,  it  conveys  a  greater  quantity  of  fermenting  carta  in 
equal  space.  Besides,  it  does  not  dissolve  in  the  ground  so  soon  as  shells, 
but  decaying  more  gradually,  continues  longer  to  impart  its  warmth  to  the 
juices  of  the  earth." 

Here  are  described  manures  which  are  known  to  be  calcareous, 
which  are  strongly  recommended — but  solely  for  their  supposed 
mechanical  effect  in  separating  the  parts  of  close  clays,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  salts  derived  from  sea-water,  which  they  contain. 
Indeed,  no  allusion  is  made  to  any  supposed  value,  or  even  to  the 
presence  of  calcareous  earth,  which  forms  so  large  a  proportion  of 
these  manures ;  and  the  fossil  shells  (in  which  that  ingredient  is 


0$Z  ERRORS  OF  MODERN  AUTHORS. 

more  abundant,  more  finely  reduced,  and  consequently  more  fit  for 
both  immediate  and  durable  effects)  are  considered  as  less  effica- 
cious than  solid  sea  shells,  and  inferior  to  sea  sand.  All  these 
substances,  besides  whatever  service  their  salts,  may  render,  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  kind  of  calcareous  manure,  as  our  beds  of  fossil 
shells  furnish  in  a  different  form.  Yet  neither  here  nor  elsewhere, 
does  the  author  intimate  that  these  manures  and  marl  have  similar 
powers  for  improving  soils. 

The  foregoing  quotations  show  what  opinions  have  been  expressed 
by  English  writers  of  reputation,  and  what  opinion  would  thence 
necessarily  be  formed  by  a  general  reader  of  these  and  other  agri- 
cultural works,  of  the  nature  of  what  is  called  marl  in  England,  as 
well  as  what  is  so  named  in  this  part  of  our  country.  I  do  not 
mean  that  other  authors  have  not  thought  more  correctly,  and 
sometimes  expressed  themselves  with  precision  on  this  subject. 
Mineralogists  define  marl  to' be  a  calcareous  clay  ;  and  in  this  cor- 
rect sense,  the  term  is  used  by  Davy,  and  other  chemical  agricul- 
turists. Such  authors  as  Young  and  Sinclair  also  could  not  have 
been  ignorant  of  the  true  composition  of  marl ;  yet  even  they  have 
used  so  little  precision  or  clearness,  when  speaking  of  the  effects  of 
marling,  that  their  statements  (however  correct  they  may  be  in  the 
sense  they  intended  them)  convey  no  exact  information,  and  have 
not  served  to  remove  the  erroneous  impressions  made  by  the  great 
body  of  their  predecessors.  Knowing  as  Young  did  [see  above, 
11]  the  confusion  in  which  this  subject  was  involved,  it  was  the 
more  incumbent  on  him  to  be  guarded  in  his  use  of  terms  so  gene- 
rally misapplied.  Yet  considering  his  practical  and  scientific 
knowledge  as  an  agriculturist,  his  extensive  personal  observations, 
and  the  quantity  of  matter  he  has  published  on  soils  and  calcareous 
manures,  his  omissions  are  more  remarkable  than  those  of  any 
other  writer.  In  such  of  his  works  as  I  have  met  with,  though 
full  of  strong  recommendations  of  marling,  in  no  case  does  he  state 
the  composition  of  the  soil  (as  respects  its  calcareous  ingredient), 
or  the  proportion  added  by  the  operation ;  and  generally  notices 
neither,  as  if  he  viewed  marling  just  in  the  same  loose  and  incor- 
rect manner  as  most  others  have  done.  These  charges  are  supported 
by  the  following  extracts  and  references. 

17.  Young's  Farmer's  Calendar,  10th  London  edition,  page 
40. — On  marling.  Through  nearly  four  pages  this  practice  is 
strongly  recommended — but  the  manures  spoken  of,  are  regularly 
called  "  marl  or  clay/'  and  their  application,  "  marling  or  claying." 
Mr.  Rodwell's  account  of  his  practice  (which  I  before  referred  to, 
p.  Ill,)  is  inserted  at  length.  On  leased  land  he  u  clayed  or  marled" 
eight  hundred  and  twenty  acres  with  one  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand loads,  and  at  a  cost  of  four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  pounds — and  the  business  is  stated  to  have  been  attended 


ERRORS  OF  ARTHUR  YOUNG.  383 

with  great  profit.  At  last,  the  author  lets  us  know  that  it  is  not 
the  same  substance  that  he  has  been  calling  "  marl  or  clay" — and 
that  the  marl  effervesces  strongly  with  acids,  and  the  clay  slightly. 
But  we  are  told  nothing  more  precise  as  to  the  amount  of  calcare- 
ous ingredients,  either  in  the  manures,  or  the  soil ;  and  even  if  wo 
were  informed  on  those  heads  (without  which  we  can  know  little  or 
nothing  of  what  the  operation  really  is),  we  are  left  ignorant  of 
how  much  was  clayed,  and  how  much  marled.  It  is  to  be  inferred, 
however,  that  the  clay  was  thought  most  serviceable,  as  Mr.  Rod- 
well  says — 

"  Clay  is  much  to  be  preferred  to  marl  on  those  sandy  soils,  some  of 
•which  are  loose,  poor,  and  even  a  black  sand." 

18.  Young's  Survey  of  Norfolk  (a  large  and  closely  printed  oc- 
tavo volume)  has  fourteen  pages  filled  with  a  minute  description  of 
the  soils  of  that  county ;  but  without  any  indication  whatever  of 
the  proportion,  presence,  or  absence,  of  calcareous  earth  in  that 
extensive  district  of  sandy  soils,  so  celebrated  for  their  improve- 
ment by  marling — nor  in  any  other  part  of  the  county.  The  wastes 
are  very  extensive  :  one  of  them  (page  385)  eighteen  miles  across, 
quite  a  desert  of  sand,  "  yet  highly  improvable."  Why  it  is  im- 
provable he  does  not  say,  as  of  this  also,  no  information  is  given 
as  to  its  calcareous  constitution. 

19.  The  section  on  marl  (page  402,  of  the  same  work)  gives 
concise  statements  of  its  application,  with  general  notices  of  its 
effects,  on  near  fifty  different  parishes,  neighbourhoods,  or  separate 
farms.  Among  all  these,  the  only  statements  from  which  the  cal- 
careous nature  of  the  manure  may  be  gathered,  are  (page  406),  of 
a  marl  that  "  ferments  strongly  with  acids" — another  (page  409), 
that  marling  at  a  particular  place  destroys  sorrel — and  (page  410) 
that  the  marl  is  generally  calcareous,  and  that  that  containing  the 
most  clay,  and  the  least  calcareous  earth,  is  preferred  by  most  per- 
sons, but  not  by  all. 

20.  Young's  General  View  of  the  Agriculture  of  Suffolk  (an 
octavo  of  432  pages  of  close  print),  in  the  description  of  soils, 
affords  no  information  as  to  any  of  them  being  calcareous,  or  other- 
wise; yet  the  author  mentions  (page  3)  having  analyzed  some  of 
the  soils,  and  reports  their  aluminous  and  silicious  ingredients. 
Nor  can  more  be  learned  in  this  respect,  in  the  long  account  after- 
wards given  of  the  "  marl"  which  has  been  very  extensively  applied 
also  in  the  county  of  Suffolk.  We  may  gather,  however,  from  the 
following  extracts,  that  the  "  marl  or  clay"  of  Suffolk  is  generally 
calcareous,  but  that  this  quality  is  not  considered  the  principal 
cause  of  its  value ;  and  further,  that  crag,  a  much  richer  calcareous 
manure  (which  seems  to  be  the  same  with  our  richest  beds  of  fossil 


384  ERRORS  OP  ARTHUR  YOUNG. 

shells,  or  marl),  is  held  to  be  injurious  to  the  sandy  soils,  ■which 
are  so  generally  improved  by  what  is  there  called  marl. 

"Claying — a  term  in  Suffolk,  which  includes  marling;  and  indeed  the 
earth  carried  under  this  term  is  very  generally  a  clay  marl ;  though  a  pure, 
or  nearly  a  pure  clay,  is  preferred  for  very  loose  sands." — Young's  Suffolk, 
p.  186. 

After  speaking  of  the  great  value  of  this  manure  on  light  lands, 
he  adds  : 

"Cut  when  the  clay  is  not  of  a  good  sort,  that  is,  when  there  is  really 
none,  or  scarcely  any  clay  in  it,  but  is  an  imperfect  and  even  a  hard  chalk, 
there  are  great  doubts  how  far  it  answers  and  in  some  cases  has  been  spread 
to  little  profit."— p.  187. 

"Part  of  the  under  stratum  of  the  county  is  a  singular  body  of 
cockle  and  other  shells,  found  in  great  masses  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  from  Dunwich  quite  to  the  river  Orwell,  &c." — "  I  have  seen  pits 
of  it  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  from  which  great  quantities  had 
been  taken  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  heaths.  It  is  both  red  and 
white,  and  the  shells  so  broken  as  to  resemble  sand.  On  lands  long  in 
tillage,  the  use  is  discontinued,  as  it  is  found  to  make  the  sands  blow  move." 
[That  is,  to  be  moved  by  the  winds.] — p.  5. 

21.  The  Essay  on  Manures,  by  Arthur  Young,  for  which  the 
author  was  honoured  with  the  Bedford  medal,  speaks  distinctly 
enough  of  the  value  of  marl  being  due  to  its  calcareous  ingredient 
(as  this  author  doubtless  always  knew,  notwithstanding  the  loose- 
ness of  most  of  his  remarks  on  this  head);  but  at  the  same  time 
he  furnishes  some  of  the  strongest  examples  of  absurd  inferences, 
or  of  gross  ignorance  of  the  mode  in  which  calcareous  earth  acts 
as  an  ingredient  of  soil,  and  the  proportion  which  soils  ought  to 
contain.     These  are  his  statements,  and  his  reasoning  thereon : 

"It  is  extremely  difficult  to  discover,  from  the  knowledge  at  present 
possessed  by  the  public,  what  ought  to  be  the  quantity  of  calcareous  earth 
in  a  soil.  The  best  specimen  analyzed  by  Giobert  had  6  per  cent. ;  by 
Bergman,  30  per  cent. ;  by  Dr.  Fordyce,  2  per  cent. ;  a  rich  soil,  quoted 
by  Mr.  Davy,  in  his  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institution,  11  per  cent.  This  is 
an  inquiry,  concerning  which  I  have  made  many  experiments,  and  on  soils 
of  the  most  extraordinary  fertility.  In  one,  the  proportion  was  equal  to 
9  per  cent. ;  in  another  20  per  cent. ;  another,  3  per  cent. ;  and  in  a  spe- 
cimen of  famous  land,  which  I  procured  from  Flanders,  17  per  cent.  But 
the  circumstance  which  much  perplexes  the  inquiry  is,  that  many  poor 
6oils  possess  the  same  or  nearly  the  same  proportions  as  these  most 
fertile  ones.  To  attain  the  truth,  in  so  important  a  point,  induced  me  to 
repeat  many  trials,  and  to  compare  every  circumstance ;  and  I  am  disposed 
to  conclude,  that  the  necessity  of  there  being  a  large  proportion  of  calcareous 
earth  in  a  soil  depends  on  the  deficiency  of  organic  [i.  e.  vegetable  or  animal] 
matter  ;  of  that  organic  matter  which  is  [partly]  convertible  into  hydrogen 
gas.  If  the  farmer  finds,  by  experiment,  that  his  soil  has  but  a  small 
quantity  of  organic  matter,  or  knows  by  his  practice  that  it  is  poor,  and 
not  worth  more  than  10s.,  15s.  or  20s.  an  acre,  he  may  then  conclude  that  there 
ought  to  be  20  per  cent,  of  calcareous  earth  in  it ;  but,  if,  on  the  contrary,  it 
abound  with  organic  matter,  and  be  worth  in  practice  a  much  larger  rent, 


ERRORS  OF  ARTHUR  YOUNG.  385 

in  that  case  bis  marl  cart  will  not  be  called  for.  though  there  be  but  5  per 
cent,  or  eTen  less,  of  calcareous  matter." — Young's  Essay  on  Manures — 
Sect.  2. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state,  that  the  opinion  of  calcareous 
matter  being  needed  in  larger  quantities  in  proportion  to  the  defi- 
ciency of  the  u  organic"  or  putrescent  matter,  is  directly  opposed 
to  the  reasoning  of  this  essay.  If  a  poor  soil  were  made  to  contain 
twenty  per  cent,  of  calcareous  matter,  by  applying  lime,  chalk,  or 
marl,  the  quantity  and  the  expense  would  be  so  enormous  as  not  to  bo 
justified  by  any  possible  return  ;  and  besides,  it  would  lessen  rather 
than  increase  the  product  of  a  poor  soil.  The  fact  named  as  strange 
by  Young,  that  some  rich  soils  contain  very  small,  and  others  very 
large  proportions  of  calcareous  earth,  is  easily  explained.  If  a  na- 
tural soil  contains  any  excess  of  calcareous  earth,  even  though  but 
one  per  cent.,  it  shows  that  there  is  so  much  to  spare,  after  its 
having  served  every  purpose  of  neutralizing  acids  and  combining 
with  putrescent  matter.  If  there  were  twenty  per  cent,  more  of 
calcareous  matter,  it  would  be  useless,  and  indeed  probably  hurtful, 
until  met  by  an  additional  supply  of  putrescent  matter.  Young's 
statement  that  some  poor  soils  agree  precisely  with  other  rich  soils, 
in  their  contents  of  calcareous  earth,  does  not  necessarily  contra- 
dict my  doctrine  that  a  proper  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  will 
enable  any  soil  to  become  rich,  either  in  a  state  of  nature,  or  un- 
der mild  cultivation,  and  for  the  following  reasons  : 

22.  1st.  The  correctness  of  Young's  analyses  of  soils  may  be 
well  doubted ;  and  if  he  used  the  then  usual  process  for  separating 
calcareous  earth,  he  was  obliged  to  be  incorrect  on  account  of  its 
unavoidable  imperfection,  as  has  been  already  explained  at  page 
57.  2d.  It  cannot  be  known  positively  what  was  the  original  state 
of  fertility  of  most  cultivated  soils  in  England,  nor  whether  they 
were  subjected  to  exhausting  or  improving  cultivation,  for  centuries 
before  our  information  from  history  begins.  3d.  Lime  has  been 
there  used  for  a  long  time,  and  to  great  extent ;  and  chalk  and 
marl  were  applied  as  manures  before  the  time  of  the  Roman  con- 
quest, as  stated  by  Pliny  (or  more  than  1800  years  ago);  so  that  it 
cannot  be  always  known  whether  a  soil  has  received  its  calcareous 
ingredient  from  nature,  or  the  industry  of  man.  4th.  It  is  known 
that  severe  cropping  after  liming,  aud  also  excessive  doses  of  cal- 
careous earth,  have  rendered  land  almost  barren;  of  which  tho 
following  extracts  offer  sufficient  proof: — 

"Before  1778  [in  East  Lothian],  the  out-field  Aid  not  receive  any  clung 
except  what  was  left  by  the  animals  grazed  upon  it.  In  manj'  cases,  out- 
field land  was  limed  ;  and  often  with  singular  advantage.  The  after  man- 
agement was  uniformly  bad ;  it  being  customary  to  crop  the  limed  out-field 
with  barley  and  oats  successively,  so  long  as  the  crop  was  worth  cutting. 
In  this  way  numerous  fields  suffered  so  severely  as  to  be  rendered  almost 
sterile  for  half  a  century  afterwards." — Fanner's  Magazine,  p.  G3,  vol.  xii. 

33 


386  LORD   KAMES   AND    SIR   JOUN    SINCLAIR. 

"An  overdose  of  shell  marl  [that  from  under  peat,  above  described], 
laid  perhaps  an  inch  thick,  produces  for  a  time  large  crops.  But  at  last  it 
renders  the  soil  a  caput  mortuum,  capable  of  bearing  neither  corn  nor 
grass ;  of  which,  there  are  too  many  examples  in  Scotland,  &c. — Gentle- 
man Farmer,  p.  378.  % 

'2'-).  Yet  the  last-quoted  writer  (Lord  Kames)  elsewhere  states 
(at  page  379),  that  as  much  clay  marl  as  contains  1500  bolls  (or 
9000  bushels),  of  pure  calcareous  earth  to  the  acre,  is  not  an  over- 
dose in  Scotland. 

The  next  following  evidences  have  been  referred  to,  and  some 
of  them  at  greater  length,  in  previous  parts  of  this  essay.  They 
will  be  again  adduced  here,  because  of  their  peculiar  importance  in 
sustaining  my  positions.  The  particular  opinions  here  to  be  quoted 
are  from  writers  of  high  character  and  authority,  as  scientific  agri- 
culturists, or  chemists.  The  names  of  Sinclair,  Davy,  and  Morton 
(and  also  Young,  before  quoted),  deservedly  stand  among  the 
highest.  Moreover,  they  are  all  modern  authorities.  They  seve- 
rally had  all  the  lights  on  calcareous  manures  which  existed  before 
the  last  thirty  years  (or  later)  ;  and  certainly  each  of  them  well  knew 
what  was  true  marl,  its  mineralogical  and  chemical  character,  and 
also  what  was  calcareous  soil.  Sir  John  Sinclair  will  be  the  first 
of  these  quoted. 

24.  ••  Marl.  Of  this  substance,  there  are  four  sorts,  rock — slate — clay — 
and  shell  marl.  The  three  former  are  of  so  heavy  a  nature  that  they  are 
seldom  conveyed  to  any  distance  :  though  useful  when  found  below  a  lighter 
soil,  to  which  they  can  be  applied  without  incurring  much  expense.  But 
shell  marl  is  specifically  lighter,  and  consists  entirely  of  calcareous  matter 
(the  broken  and  partially  decayed  shells  of  fish),  which  may  be  applied  as 
a  top-dressing  to  wheat  and  grass,  when  it  would  be  less  advantageous  to 
use  quick-lime."  [This  is  the  kind  of  manure  referred  to  in  extract  12,  and 
there  more  particularly  described.]  "In  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  clay, 
or  red  marl,  is  the  great  source  of  fertilization,  &c." — "The  quantity 
used  is  enormous ;  in  many  cases  about  three  hundred  middling  cart  loads 
per  acre,  and  the  fields  are  sometimes  so  thickly  covered  as  to  have  the 
appearance  of  a  red  soiled  fallow,  fresh  ploughed". — Sinclair's  Code  of  Ag- 
riculture, Amer.  ed.  (Hartford)  p.  138,  and  oih  London  ed. 

This  account  of  the  Lancashire  improvements  made  by  red  clay 
marl  closes  with  the  statement  that  "  the  effects  are  represented  to 
be  beneficial  in  the  highest  degree,"  which  is  fully  as  exact  an  ac- 
count of  profit,  or  increased  production,  as  we  can  obtain  of  any 
other  marling.  Throughout,  there  is  no  hint  as  to  the  calcareous 
constituents  of  the  soil  or  the  manure,  or  whether  either  rock,  day, 
or  slate  marls,  generally,  are  valuable  for  that  or  for  other  reasons ; 
nor  indeed  could  we  guess  that  they  contained  any  calcareous  earth, 
but  for  their  being  classed  with  many  other  substances,  under  the 
general  head  of  calcareous  manures. 

But  we  may  learn  from  other  sources  that  the  "red  marl"  of 
Lancashire  is  calcareous,  and  that  the  soil  to  which  it  was  applied 
is  also  calcareous.     This  character  of  the  marl  is  distinctly  stated 


Marling  not  to  make  soil  calcareous.  387 

by  tbe  Agricultural  Surveyor  of  Lancashire,  in  his  Report  to  the 
Board  of  Agriculture  (of  which  Sir  John  Sinclair  was  president), 
and  the  calcareous  character  of  the  soil  is  inferred  from  its  being 
of  the  "  new  red  sand-stone  formation,"  which  is  highly  calcareous, 
and  also  from  Morton's  speaking  of  the  "  red  marl"  in  some  parts 
forming  the  surface  soil. 

"2").  The  Report  of  the  Agricultural  Survey  of  Lancashire  (made 
to  and  published  by  the  Board  of  Agriculture)  states  the  general 
practice,  and  also  particular  cases  of  the  enormous  quantities  and 
consequent  great  cost  of  the  marlings  of  that  country.  All  the 
marl  (or  "  clay"  as  called  in  some  cases)  is  calcareous.  It  lies 
under  the  surface  generally  of  every  field,  and  at  no  great  depth, 
and  sometimes  forms  the  surface  soil.  Of  course  the  access  to 
and  working  the  marl  could  not  well  be  cheaper.  Yet  so  heavy 
are  the  usual  dressings,  3000  to  more  than  10,000  bushels  to  the 
statute  acre,  that  the  improvement  is  very  costly.  Actual  expendi- 
tures are  stated  ranging  from  $35  to  $65  the  acre,  for  a  single 
marling,  at  short  distances  and  with  the  other  usual  facilities  of  the 
locality.  We  might  safely  infer  that  these  great  labours  are  not 
necessary  or  even  useful  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  lime  to  the 
soil;  and  still  less  if  to  a  soil  already  calcareous.  And  of  the 
correctness  of  this  inference  the  author  leaves  no  doubt  in  the  fol- 
lowing subsequent  passage  of  his  Report : — 

"  Undoubtedly  the  calcareous  matter  contained  in  either  marl  [i.  e.  the 
"richer  marl"  having  40  per  cent,  or  more,  or  the  "clay,"  of  20  or  'I'l 
per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime],  is  of  the  highest,  importance  ;  but  obviat- 
ing the  natural  deficiencies  of  the  soil,  by  adding  sand  to  clay,  or  clay  to 
sand,  is  of  more  consequence  than  the  mere  calcareous  stimulus,  'which 
might  be  obtained  at  a  much  lighter  expense"  [by  liming]. 

26.  Of  the  agricultural  character  of  the  lands  on  the  "  new  red 
sand-stone  formation"  (which  includes  the  red  marl  land  of  Lan- 
cashire), Morton  says — 

"  In  Devon  and  Somersetshire,  this  is  an  unctuous  friable  clay,  or  red 
marly  soil  of  the  first  quality.  It  is  friable  enough  for  turnips,  yet  suffi- 
ciently tenacious  for  beans  and  wheat,  and  produces  the  richest  and  most 
luxuriant  crops  of  any  soil  in  the  kingdom;  and  the  only  manure  that  seems 
necessary  is  the  application  of  lime,  with  which  it  produces  increased  crops  on 
every  repetition.  The  effects  of  lime  on  the  red  marl,  are  much  greater  iv 
Somerset  and  Devonshire  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  soil  of  this 
formation. 

"  Wherever  the  red  marl  comes  to  the  surface,  it  forms  a  rich  red  fria- 
ble loam,"  &c. — "The  nature  of  the  soil  is  clay,  calcareous  matter  or  marl, 
slippery  and  greasy  when  wet,  and  of  a  soapy  feel  when  dry,"  &c.  (Mor- 
ton on  Soils,  4th  London  ed.,  pp.  70,  71.) 

.Now  whatever  may  be  the  benefits,  and  however  great,  of  apply- 
ing lime  to  these  already  calcareous  soils  (if  the  so  called  "  marl" 
is  indeed  calcareous),  the  operation  is  most  certainly  not  that  of 
calxituj,  or  the  marling  which  I  have  recommended. 


389  MARLING   NOT    TO    MAKE    SOIL   CALCAREOUS. 

27.  The  marling  of  Norfolk  county  is  the  most  celebrated  in 
England  for  the  great  extent  of  the  operation,  and  the  great  im- 
provements thereby  made.  Yet  the  following  -  .  from  the 
same  writer  will  clearly  show  that  the  ordinary  operation  called 
u  marling"  in  Norfolk  is  entirely  different  from  the  chemical  action 
I  propose : 

"So  convinced''  (says  Morton,  at  p.  29),  "are  the  farmers  of  Norfolk 
an  1  Suffolk  of  the  value  of  the  clay  or  chalk  marl  [both  certainly  calcare- 
ous] as  an  alterative  to  their  sandy  surface,  that  they  generally  chalk  or 
clay  their  land  once  in  eight  years  at  least,  and  sometimes  oftener:  and  by 
allowing  100  cubic  yards  to  the  acre,  incur  an  expense  of  60s.  [more  than 
$12]  per  acre,  for  digging,  wheeling,  and  spreading.  It  is  solely  by  this 
process,  that  the  Norfolk  sandy  soil,  which  naturally  was  of  the  most 
worthless  kind,  and  produced  nothing  but  heath  and  bent,  for  a  few  starv- 
ing sheep,  is  now  converted  into  good  sandy  loam,  which  yields  large  crops 
of  turnips,  barley,  and  wheat." 

Now  the  first  application  certainly  included  the  chemical  opera- 
tion which  I  call  marling  (or  calxing)  the  soil — if  it  was  not  before 
calcareous.  If  calcareous  by  nature,  even  the  first  artificial  appli- 
cation would  have  no  such  chemical  action.  But  much  more  than 
half  of  even  the  first  application,  and  all  of  each  of  the  subsequent 
applications,  made  every  eight  years  or  oftener,  in  great  quantity 
and  at  great  expense,  was  merely  mechanical  in  its  action,  was  not 
rendering  the  soil  calcareous  (it  being  enough  so  before),  and,  in 
short,  was  in  no  respect  the  chemical  process  which  I  have  defined 
and  recommended,  as  marling.  TVe  may  infer  that  in  all  these 
later  applications,  the  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  marl  produced  no 
chemical  effect,  and  acted  only  mechanically,  if  at  all ;  and  that  it 
was  the  clay  that  acted  most  beneficially,  and  altogether  mechani- 
cally. 

28.'  "  In  Hampshire  and  Berks,  2880  bushels  per  acre  [of  chalk,  nearly 
pure  carbonate  of  lime]  are  applied  with  great  advantage,  at  the  expense 
of  42s."  (Morton  on  Soils,  p.  164.) 

29.  There  can  be  no  higher  authority  than  Sir  Humphrey  Davy's, 
for  established  scientific  opinions,  at  the  time  he  wrote,  as  to  the 
characters  of  soils  and  mineral  manures.  His  "  Lectures  on  Agri- 
cultural Chemistry"  contain  the  following  passage — which  with 
others  of  similar  import  remained  unaltered  in  his  latest  published 
edition  : — 

(i  Chalk  and  marl,  or  carbonate  of  lime,  vill  only  improve  the  texture  of  a 
soil,  or  its  relation  to  absorption ;  it  acts  merely  as  one  of  its  earthy  ingre- 
dients."    (Agr.  Chem.  4th  London  ed.  of  1835,  Lecture  vii.) 

Of  course,  neither  this  illustrious  chemist,  nor  Professor  John 
Davy,  who  issued,  with  his  notes,  this  edition  of  his  then  deceased 
brother's  great  work,  could  have  had  any  conception  of  the  chemi- 
cal action  of  carbonate  of  lime,  when  applied  in  such  small  quan- 


ERRORS   OF   SINCLAIR.  389 

tities  as  merely  to  make  its  presence  evident  to  the  analyzer,  in  a 
soil  before  entirely  deficient. 

30.  The  next  following  quotation  offers  the  most  remarkable 
evidence  of  erroneous  opinions  of  the  chemical  action  of  different 
mineral  manures,  uttered  by  a  modern  author  of  the  highest  repu- 
tation as  a  scientific  agriculturist.  Sir  John  Sinclair  was  a  volu- 
minous and  able  writer.  Presiding  over  the  British  Board  of  Agri- 
culture,  he  mainly  directed  its  operations,  and  of  course  was  fami- 
liar with  all  the  lights  of  British  agriculture  brought  together  in 
the  published  reports  of  all  the  agricultural  surveys  of  the  counties 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Moreover,  the  professed  object  of 
his  latest  work,  the  "  Code  of  Agriculture"  was  to  present  a 
digest  of  all  the  valuable  facts  and  instructions  elicited  by  all  those 
voluminous  surveys  and  reports,  and  tested  and  established  by  judi- 
cious and  authoritative  approval.  Yet  in  the  5th  London  edition 
of  his  "  Code  of  Agriculture,"  as  late  as  1832,  and  with  numerous 
recent  additions  and  improvements  to  the  work,  the  following  pas- 
sages stand  in  an  article  with  the  title  below : — 

"On  bones  as  a  manure,  and  on  the  use  of  shells,  shell-marl  and  coral 
for  the  same  beneficial  purposes." 

'-Were  the  advantages  of  the  discovery  restricted  to  the  use  of  bones 

alone,  as  they  might  possibly  be  exhausted,  or  raised  in  price,  it  would  be 
less  important ;  but  fortunately  the  shells  of  oysters,  and  other  fish,  are 
found  to  be  equally  effectual.  Shell  marl  also,  'which  abounds  in  many  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  may  be  applied  to  similar  purposes ;  and  coral,  the  banks 
of  which  are  abundant  even  on  our  own  coasts,  is  found  to  be  equally  use- 
ful. In  short,  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  what  may  be  the  ultimate  results 
of  this  new  source  of  improvement,  for  by  a  small  quantity  [25  bushels  to 
the  acre,  as  elsewhere  directed]  of  pounded  bones  or  shells,  great  crops  of 
turnips  may  be  raised ;  and  with  the  manure  which  these  turnips  produce, 
abundant  crops  of  corn  may  be  obtained  even  on  the  poorest  soils,  with  the 
aid  of  a  judicious  rotation."  (Code  of  Agr.,  5th  Lon.  ed.  p.  141,  Appendix.) 
*  *  *  "As  bones  arc  likely  to  become  a  scarce  article,  it  is  a  most  fortu- 
nate circumstance  that  the  shells  of  oysters  and  other  shell-fish,  when  properly 
reduced  in  size,  have  been  found  equally  usrful  as  a  manure.  Their  utility 
would  be  much  increased  if  they  were  sprinkled  with  sulphuric  acid,  by 
the  addition  of  which  they  would  be  converted  into  gypsum."    (p.  14G.) 

Thus,  the  distinguished  author,  as  late  as  1832,  asserts  that 
substances  whose  manuring  principles  are  almost  exclusively  com- 
•  posed  of  carbonate  of  lime,  will  serve  to  substitute,  and  act  alike 
and  as  effectually,  as  those  which  are  almost  exclusively  composed 
of  phosphate  of  lime  (and  of  fatty  and  gelatinous  animal  matter, 
if  these  remain);  and  then  recommends,  as  still  better,  the  con- 
verting the  carbonate  to  the  sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum  !  This 
last-named  manure,  moreover,  has  not  been  found  of  benefit  but  in 
few  cases  in  England.  It  is  unnecessary  to  expose,  b}r  further  com- 
ments, this  confounding  of  tin*  action  and  effect^  of  three  manur- 
ing substances,  all  valuable  in  their  places,  yet  each  very  different  in 
action  from  the  others. 
33* 


390  MARLING   OF   NORFOLK. 

31.  The  means  of  ameliorating  the  texture  of  chalky  soils,  are  either  by 
the  application  of  clayey  and  sandy  loams,  pure  clay,  or  marl." — "The 
chalk  stratum  sometimes  lies  upon  a  thick  vein  of  black  tenacious  marl, 
of  a  rich  quality,  which  ought  to  be  dug  up  and  mixed  •with  the  chalk.'  — 
Code  of  Agriculture,  p.  19. 

82.  Dickson's  Farmer  s  Companion. — The  author  recommends 
"argillaceous  marl"  for  the  improvement  of  chalky  soils;  and  for 
sandy  soils,  "where  the  calcareous  principle  is  in  sufficient  abund- 
ance, argillaceous  marl,  and  clayey  loams,"  are  recommended  as 
manures. 

33.  "  Chalky  loam.  The  best  manure  for  this  soil  is  clay,  or  argillaceous 
marl,  if  clay  cannot  be  had;  because  this  soil  is  defective  principally  in 
the  argillaceous  ingredient," — Kirican  on  Manures,  p.  80. 

The  evident  intention  and  effect  of  the  marling  recommended  in 
all  the  three  last  extracts,  is  to  diminish  the  proportion  of  calcare- 
ous earth  in  the  soil. 

34.  In  a  Traveller  s  JTotcs  of  an  agricultural  tour  in  England, 
in  1811,  which  is  published  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Edinburgh 
Farmers'  Magazine,  the  following  passages  relate  to  Mr.  Coke's 
estate,  Holkham,  and  to  Norfolk  generally. 

"  Holkham. — The  soil  here  is  naturally  very  poor,  being  a  mixture  of 
Band,  chalk,  aud  flint  stones,  with  apparently  little  mixture  of  argillaceous 
earth — the  sub-soil,  chalk  or  lime-stone  everywhere."  p.  486.  "  As  the  soil 
of  the  territory  [of  Norfolk  generally]  through  which  I  passed,  seems  to 
have  a  sufficient  mixture  of  calcareous  earth  naturally,  I  learn  they  do  not  of- 
ten lime  their  lands ;  but  clay  marl  has  been  found  to  have  the  most  bene- 
ficial consequences  on  most  of  the  Norfolk  soils."   p.  487. 

3o.  "In  Norfolk,  they  seem  to  value  clay  more  than  marl,  probably  be- 
cause their  sandy  soils  already  contain  calcareous  parts." — Kirwan  on  Ma- 
nures, p.  87. 

From  this  and  the  preceding  quotation  it  would  follow,  that  the 
great  and  celebrated  improvements  in  Norfolk,  made  by  marling, 
had  actually  operated  to  lessen  the  calcareous  proportion  of  the  soil, 
instead  of  increasing  it.  Or,  otherwise  (as  may  be  deduced  from 
what  will  follow),  if  so  scientific  and  diligent  an  inquirer  as  Kir- 
wan was  deceived  on  this  very  important  point,  it  furnishes  addi- 
tional proof  of  the  impossibility  of  drawing  correct  conclusions  on 
this  subject  from  European  books — when  it  is  left  doubtful,  whether 
the  most  extensive,  the  most  profitable,  and  the  most  celebrated 
improvements  by  "  marling"  in  Europe,  have  in  fact  served  to 
make  the  soil  more  or  less  calcareous. 

If  the  "  clay  marl"  offered  above  (4)  by  Stephens  as  a  fair 
average,  and  which  contained  only  8.40  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of 
lime,  is  indeed  as  rich  as  the  "clay  marls"  or  "clays"  spoken  of 
in  the  latter  extracts,  it  would  convert  the  doubt  to  certainty,  that 
many  soils  in  England  were  more  calcareous  than  such  marl ;  and 
that  its  application  (though  truly  a  calcareous  manure),  served  often 


CALCAREOUS  CLAYS  OF  NEW  YORK.  S91 

to  lessen  rather  than  to  increase  the  previous  calcareous  constitu- 
tion of  the  soil. 

36.  In  connexion  with  this  statement  of  the  poor  "clay  marls"  of 
Britain,  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  of  six  kinds  of  "  clay"  (not 
"  clay  marls,"  but  presented  simply  as  clays),  of  New  York,  ana- 
lyzed and  reported  by  Professor  Emmons  (and  quoted  in  Browne's 
Muck  Book),  the  calcareous  proportion  in  five  was  either  nearly  as 
large,  or  larger,  than  in  the  above  stated  British  "  clay  marl."  The 
specimens  reported  by  Professor  Emmons  were  as  follows: — 

"Tertiary  or  Albany  clay,  contains  carbonate  of  lime  per  cent.    .  8.00 

Niagara  clay     ..........  14.62 

Cayuga  clay ,         .         ...  16.48 

Adomrach  clay .         .........  0.94 

Brick  (?)  clay,  near  Caldwell 8.02 

Reddish  clay  of  Christian  Hollow     ......  8.29" 

Broivnc's  Muck  Book  (1852). 

All  but  one'  of  these  New  York  "clays"  would  be  "clay  marls" 
in  Britain,  according  to  Stephens,  the  latest  and  a  high  British 
authority. 

Most  of  the  extracts  which  I  have  presented,  are  from  British 
agriculturists  of  high  character  and  authority.  If  such  writers  as 
these,  while  giving  long  and  (in  some  respects)  minute  statements 
of  marl  and  marling,  omit  to  tell,  or  leave  their  readers  to  doubt, 
whether  the  manure  or  the  soil  is  the  most  calcareous — or  what 
proportion  of  calcareous  earth,  or  whether  any  is  present  in 
either — then  have  I  fully  established  that  the  American  reader 
who  may  atfSmpt  to  draw  instruction  from  such  sources,  as  to  the 
operation,  effects,  and  profits  of  either  marl  or  calcareous  manures 
in  general,  will  be  more  apt  to  be  deceived  and  misled  than 
enlightened. 

I  have  now  to  refer  to  an  author,  whose  works,  well  known  as 
they  may  be  to  others,  had  not  come  under  my  view  until  after  the 
earliest  publication  of  most  of  the  foregoing  extracts.  Otherwise, 
Marshall  would  have  been  stated  as  an  exception  to  the  general 
silence  of  British  authors  as  to  the  true  and  precise  nature  of  what 
they  treated  of  as  marl.  But  though  he  has  not  been,  like  others, 
so  faulty  as  to  leave  in  doubt  what  was  the  character  and  value  of 
the  marls  of  which  he  spoke,  and  the  nature  of  their  operation  on 
the  soils  to  which  they  were  applied,  still  no  other  writer  furnishes 
stronger  proof  of  the  general  ignorance  and  disregard  of  the  nature 
of  marls  and  calcareous  manures,  and  of  their  mode  of  operation ; 
and  even  the  author  himself  is  not  free  from  the  same  charge,  as 
will  be  shown.  I  shall  quote  the  more  at  length  from  Marshall, 
because  he  presents  the  strongest  opposition  to  what  I  have  stated 
as  to  the  general  purport  of  publications  on  marling ;  and  also, 
because  whatever  may  be  their  character,  there  is  much  to  interest 
the  reader  in  his  accounts  of  the  opinions   and  practices  of  those 


392  Marshall's  statements. 

who  have  used  calcareous  manures  longest  and  most  extensively, 
although  without  knowing  what  they  were  doing. 

In  his  "  Rural  Economy  of Norfolk,"  the  "marls"  and  "clays" 
most  used  in  the  celebrated  improvements  of  that  county  are  mi- 
nutely described,  and  the  chemical  composition  stated,  showing  that 
both  are  highly  calcareous.     Of  the  "  marls"  or  chalks,  most  used 
for  manure  in  Norfolk,  he  analyzed  three  specimens,  and  one   of 
clay,    and   found   the   proportions  of  pure   calcareous    matter   as 
follows : — 

Chalk  marl  of  Thorp-market,  contained,  per  cent.     .         .       85 
Soft  chalk  of  Thorp-next-Norwich,  ....       98 

Hard  chalk  of  Swaffham,  almost  pure, — nearly        .  .     100 

Clay  marl  of  Hemsby    .......       43 

37.  Of  these  he  spoke  previously  and  in  general  terms,  thus : 
"The  central  and  northern  parts  of  the  district  abound,  universally,  with 
a  •whitish-coloured  chalk  marl ;  while  the  Fleg  hundreds,  and  the  eastern 
coast,  are  equally  fortunate  in  a  gray-colaured  clay  marl.  The  first  has, 
in  all  probability,  been  in  use  as  a  manure  many  centuries  ;  there  are  oaks 
of  considerable  size  now  going  to  decay  in  pits  •which  have  obviously  been 
heretofore  in  use,  and  'which,  perhaps,  still  remain  in  use,  as  marl-pits. 

"  The  use  of  clay  marl,  as  a  manure,  seems  to  be  a  much  later  discovery ; 
even  yet,  there  are  farmers  who  are  blind  to  its  good  effect ;  because  it  is 
not  marl,  but  "clay;"  by  which  name  it  is  universally  known.  The  name, 
however,  would  be  a  thing  of  no  import,  were  it  not  indiscriminately  ap- 
plied to  unctuous  earths  in  general,  whether  they  contain,  or  not,  any  por- 
tion of  calcareous  matter.  Nothing  is  "marl"  which  is  not  white ;  for, 
notwithstanding  the  county  has  been  so  long  and  so  largely  indebted  to  its 
fertilizing  quality,  her  husbandmen,  even  in  this  enlightened  age,  remain 
totally  ignorant  of  its  distinguishing  properties ;  through  which  want  of 
information  much  labour  and  expense  is  frequently  thrown  away.  One 
man,  seeing  the  good  effect  of  the  Fleg  clay,  for  instance,  concludes  that 
all  clays  are  fertile,  and  finding  a  bed  of  strong  brick  earth  upon  his  farm, 
falls  to  work,  at  a  great  expense,  to  "claying" — while  another,  observing 
this  man's  miscarriage,  concludes  that  all  clays  are  unprofitable ;  and,  in 
consequence,  is  at  an  expense,  equally  ill  applied,  of  fetching  "marl"  from 
a  great  distance;  while  he  has,  perhaps,  in  his  own  farm,  if  judiciously 
sought  after,  an  earth  of  a  quality  equally  fertilizing  with  that  he  is  throw- 
ing away  his  time  and  his  money  in  fetching. — MarshaWs  Norfolk,  vol.  i., 
p.  16. 

Yet  it  is  remarkable,  that  Marshall  should  not  have  intimated 
whether  the  Norfolk  soils  were  naturally  calcareous  (as  the  two 
writers  just  before  quoted  declare)  or  not;  and  therefore  we  are 
still  left  to  guess  whether  these  manures  served  to  increase  the 
calcareous  quality  of  soils  already  possessing  that  quality  in  a  high 
degree,  or  to  give  it  to  soils  devoid  of  it  before. 

Other  passages  will  now  bo  quoted  from  the  same,  and  from 
other  similar  works  of  Marshall's,  to  show  the  prevailing  ignorance 
of  the  ingredients  and  operation  of  the  marls,  sometimes  prized 
and  sometimes  contemned,  with  as  little  reason  in  the  one  case  as 
the  other,  by  farmers  in  various  parts  of  England. 


MARLS   AND   CLAYS   OF   NORFOLK.  893 

38.  "The  principal  part  of  bis  estate,  however,  is  of  a  much  shallower 
soil,  not  deeper  than  tho  plough  goes ;  and  its  present  very  amazing  fer- 
tility lie  ascribes  in  a  great  measure  to  his  having  clayed  it.  Indeed,  to 
this  species  of  improvement  the  fertility  of  the  Fleg  Hundred  is  allowed  to 
be  principally  owing. 

'•  .Mr.  F.  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  examining  his  clay  pit,  which  is  very 
commodious ;  the  uncallow  [i.  e.  overlying  earth]  is  trifling,  and  the  depth 
of  the  bed  or  jam  he  has  not  been  able  to  ascertain.  It  is  worked,  at  pre- 
sent, about  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep.  The  colour  of  the  fossil,  when  moist, 
is  dark  brown,  interspersed  with  specks  of  white,  and  dries  to  a  colour 
lighter  than  that  of  fuller's  earth ;  on  being  exposed  to  the  air,  it  breaks 
into  small  die-like  pieces. 

"From  Mr.  F.'s  account  of  the  manner  of  its  acting,  and  more  particu- 
larly from  its  appearance,  I  judged  it  to  be  a  brown  marl,  rather  than  a 
clay  ;  and,  on  trying  it  in  acid,  it  proves  to  be  strongly  calcareous  ;  effer- 
vescing, and  hissing  more  violently  than  most  of  the  white  marls  of  this 
neighbourhood :  and  what  is  still  more  interesting,  the  Hemsby  clay  is 
equally  turbulent  in  acid  as  the  Norwich  marl,  which  is  brought  by  water 
forty  miles  into  this  country,  at  the  excessive  expense  of  four  shillings  a 
load  upon  the  staith  ;  besides  the  land  carriage.  [The  strength  of  this 
Hemsby  clay  is  stated  above.] 

"  It  is  somewhat  extraordinary  that  Mr.  F.,  sensible  and  intelligent  as 
he  is,  should  be  entirely  unacquainted  with  this  quality  of  his  clay ;  a  cir- 
cumstance, however,  the  less  to  be  wondered  at,  as  the  Norfolk  farmers,  in 
general,  are  equally  uninformed  of  the  nature  and  properties  of  marl." — 
Marshall's  Not-folk,  vol.  ii.,  p.  192. 

The  following  is  a  remarkable  instance,  in  a  particular  district, 
of  a  clay  very  poor  in  calcareous  matter,  being  considered  and  used 
as  valuable  manure,  and  a  very  rich  marl  equally  accessible,  being 
deemed  inferior. 

39.  "  The  marl  is  either  an  adulterate  chalk,  found  near  the  foot  of  the 
chalky  steeps  of  the  West  Downs,  lying  between  the  chalk  rock  and  the 
Mnara  soil,  partaking  of  them  both — iu  truth,  a  marl  of  the  first  quality — 
or  a  sort  of  blue  mud,  or  clay,  dug  out  of  the  area  of  this  district,  par- 
ticularly, I  believe,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  This  is  said  to  have 
been  set  on  with  good  effect,  while  the  former  is  spoken  of  as  of  less 
value;  whereas,  the  white  is  more  than  three-fourths  of  it  calcareous; 
while  the  blue  does  not  contain  ten  grains,  per  cent.,  of  calcareous  mat- 
ter.— Marshall's  Southern  Counties,  p.  175. 

There  have  before  been  given  some  extracts  from  this  author, 
showing  that  sundry  other  valued  "marls"  (so  called)  were 
scarcely  at  all  calcareous.  Whatever  manuring  effects  all  these 
have,  must  be  owing  to  some  other  and  unknown  ingredient. 

The  first  extracts  from  JMarshall  (just  referred  to)  suggested  a 
remark,  which  ought  to  have  been  made  earlier.  "When  there  is 
so  much  general  ignorance  prevailing  among  practical  farmers  as 
to  what  they  call  marl,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  the  most  intelli- 
gent writers  can  be  correct,  when  attempting  to  record  their  prac- 
tices. When  Arthur  Young,  for  example,  reports  the  effects  of 
marl  in  fifty  different  localities,  as  known  from  the  practice  of 
several  hundreds  of  individuals,  it  must  be  inferred  that  he  uses 


31)4  SKA    SAND. 

the  term,  generally,  as  they  did  from  whom  his  information  was 
gathered,  and  in  very  few  cases,  if  at  all,  as  learned  by  his  own 
analyses.  Therefore,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  uncertainty 
as  to  the  character  of  marl  does  not  extend  very  generally  to  even 
the  most  scientific  writers  on  agriculture. 

As  some  of  the  foregoing  extracts  exhibit  the  use  of  "  marls" 
(so  called)  destitute  of  calcareous  earth,  so  the  following  shows, 
under  the  name  of  sea  sand,  a  manure  which  is  in  its  chemical 
qualities  a  rich  marl  (in  our  sense)  or  calcareous  manure. 

40.  "  Sea  sand.  This  has  been  a  manure  of  the  district,  beyond  memory 
or  tradition.  There  are  two  species  still  in  use  :  the  one  bearing  the  ordi- 
nary appearances  of  sea  sand,  as  found  at  the  mouths  of  rivers ;  namely  a 
compound  of  the  common  sand  and  mud :  the  other  appears  to  the  eye 
clean  fragments  cf  broken  shells  without  mixture ;  resembling,  in  colour 
and  particles,  clean-dressed  bran  of  wheat. 

"  By  analysis,  one  hundred  grains  of  the  former  contain  about  thirty 
grains  of  common  silicious  sea  sand,  with  a  few  grains  of  fine  silt  or  mud; 
the  rest  is  calcareous  earth  mixed  with  the  animal  matter  of  marine  shells. 

"One  hundred  grains  of  the  latter  contain  eighty-five  grains  of  the  mat- 
ter of  shells,  and  fifteen  grains  of  an  earthy  substance,  which  resembles,  iD 
colour  and  particles,  minute  fragments  of  bunt  clay  or  common  red  brick. 

"These  sands  are  raised  in  different  parts  of  Plymouth  Sound,  or  in  the 
harbour;  and  are  carried  up  the  estuaries  in  barges;  and  from  these  on 
horseback,  perhaps  five  or  six  miles  into  the  country  ;  of  course  at  a  very 
great  expense,  yet  without  discrimination,  by  men  in  general,  as  to  their 
specific  qualities.  The  shelly  kind,  no  doubt,  brought  them  into  repute, 
and  induced  landlords  to  bind  their  tenants  to  the  use  of  them  ;  but  with- 
out specifying  the  sort — and  the  bargemen,  of  course,  bring  such  as  they 
can  raise  and  convey  at  the  least  labour  and  expense.  It  is  probable  that 
the  specimen  first  mentioned,  is  above  par,  as  to  quality  :  I  have  seen  sand 
of  a  much  cleaner  appearance,  travelling  towards  the  fields  of  this  quarter 
of  the  country ;  and  near  Beddiford,  in  North  Devonshire,  I  collected  a 
specimen  under  the  operation  of  "melling"'  with  mould,  which  contains 
eighty  grains  per  cent,  of  clean  silicious  sand!" — Marshall's  West  of  Eng- 
land, vol.  i.,  p.  154. 

It  might  be  inferred  from  all  these  proofs  of  Marshall's  know- 
ledge of  calcareous  earth  constituting  the  real  value  of  marls,  that 
he  could  scarcely  miss  the  obvious  corollary  to  that  proposition, 
that  the  valuable  operation  of  calcareous  manures  is  to  render  soils 
calcareous,  and  that  the  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  manure 
and  the  soil  would  sufficiently  indicate  when  the  application  of  the 
one  to  the  other  is  judicious  or  not.  But  the  following  expres- 
sion of  opinion  (^Marshall s  Yor7cshirc,  vol.  i.,  p.  377)  is  not  only 
strongly  opposed  to  those  deductions,  but  to  the  general  purport 
of  all  his  truths  which  I  have  before  quoted. 

41.  "  Nothing  at  present  but  comparative  experiments  can  determine 
the  value  of  a  given  lime,  to  a  given  soil ;  and  no  man  can  with  common 
prudence  lime  any  land  upon  a  large  scale,  until  a  moral  certainty  of  im- 
provement has  been  established  by  experience." 

If  this  be  true,  then  indeed  is  there  no  true  or  known  theory,  or 


LATEST  ENGLISH  ERRORS.  395 

established  principles  or  precepts,  for  applying  either  lime  or  any 
calcareous  manure.  It  amounts  to  saying,  that  every  new  applica- 
tion is  a  mere  experiment,  the  result  of  which  cannot  even  be  con- 
jectured from  any  facts  previously  ljnown  of  other  soils  and  other 
manures. 

42.  The  next  quotation,  which  is  from  an  editorial  article  in  the 
Farmers  Journal  of  July  28,  1823,  shows  that  the  old  opinion 
still  prevails,  that  marl  is  profitable  only  on  sandy  lands ;  which 
opinion  carries  with  it  the  certain  inference  that  it  is  the  argillaceous 
quality,  rather  than  the  calcareous,  that  operates.  The  editor  is  re- 
marking on  a  new  agricultural  compilation  by  a  Mr.  Elkinson,  and 
ridiculing  the  author  for  his  solemn  annunciation  of  the  truism 
(in  the  editor's  opinion),  that  "  marling  on  sand  is  more  useful  than 
on  clay  land."  The  reputation  of  Mr.  Elkinson,  says  the  editor, 
"  may  remain  undisturbed  among  the  farmers  of  Lincolnshire  for  a  long 
time,  who  may  never  have  chanced  to  meet  with  the  old  proverb,  or  have 
taken  a  journey  into  the  sandy  district  of  Norfolk.  We  really  do  not  know 
whether  it  be  as  old  as  Jarvais  Markhani  or  not:  but  we  have  seen  the 
following  lines  in  black  letter : — 

He  that  marls  sand,  may  buy  land  ; 

He  that  marls  moss,  shall  have  loss  ; 

He  that  marls  clay,  throws  all  away!" 

The  editor  then  passes  to  a  subject  on  which  his  admitted  igno- 
rance serves  to  prove  that  the  improvement  gained  by  marling 
could  not  be  simply  the  making  a  soil  calcareous — for,  upon  that 
ground,  when  marl  has  once  been  plentifully  given,  and  the  land 
afterwards  worked  poor,  there  can  be  neither  reason  nor  profit  in  a 
second  marling.  Yet,  as  if  the  mode  of  operation  was  altogether 
unknown,  this  passage  follows  : 

"  It  was  once  asked  of  the  editor  by  a  very  good  practical  Norfolk  far- 
mer, '  whether  land  which  had  been  once  marled  and  worn  out  would  re- 
ceive the  same  benefit  from  a  second  marling?'  It  was  answered,  that  an 
experiment  made  on  one  field,  or  on  one  acre,  would  decide  the  point,  but 
conjecture  led  to  nothing  conclusive.  It  has  often  been  observed  that  loose 
land,  after  having  been  marled  and  out-cropped,  deposited  its  marl  in  the^ 
sub-soil,  which  therefore  became  more  retentive  [of  water] ;  and  it  has 
been  suggested,  that  deep  ploughing  ought  to  be  tried,  to  bring  this  marl 
again  to  the  top.  We  hope  that  the  point  here  in  question  has  before  now 
been  settled  by  practice  in  both  ways ;  though  at  the  above  period  (about 
180G),  such  facts  had  not  reached  the  gentleman  alluded  to,  although  a 
very  intelligent  man." 

There  are  copious  descriptions  of  marl,  and  accounts  of  its  use 
and  operation  in  several  modern  French  works  which  I  have  seen 
only  since  the  first  publication  of  this  essay.*  In  all  of  these, 
marl  is  correctly  described,  as  being  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime 

*  "Cours  Complet,"  &c,  par  l'Abbe  Rozier;  "Maison  Kustique,  &c." 
"Essai  3ur  la  Marne,"  par  M.  Puvis. 


396  rossiL  shell  beds  in  Europe. 

and  clay,  or  as  what  I  have  distinguished  as  true  marl.  Neither 
in  these  very  minute  descriptions  (nor  in  any  others  known  to  me), 
are  shells  mentioned  as  forming  either  a  universal  or  general  con- 
stituent part  of  ordinary  marhy  or  as  having  furnished  directly  and 
immediately  the  main  supply  of  the  carbonate  of  lime  of  ordinary 
and  true  marls.  It  is  true  that  shells,  or  their  fragments,  are  men- 
tioned as  being  sometimes  contained ;  but  these  may  be  presumed 
to  be  accidental  ingredients.  They  are  either  land  shells  (and 
sometimes  so  described)  swept  from  the  surface  of  the  calcareous 
lands  from  which  the  essential  materials  of  the  marl  were  brought 
iu  the  floods  of  turbid  water;  or  in  other  cases,  shells  of  fresh- 
water molluscs  which  lived  in  the  ancient  lakes  under  which  the 
marl  was  deposited,  and  of  course,  the  shells  of  such  dead  animals 
would  be  enveloped  in  the  marl,  though  not  necessarily  or  properly 
belonging  to  it. 

Again  :  "  Shell  marl"  is  mentioned  by  sundry  authors,  but  this 
is  even  a  more  different  formation  from  true  marl  than  it  is  from 
our  fossil  shells.  Its  peculiar  character  was  stated  above  (page 
374).  This  is  the  "shell  marl"  to  which  Sir  John  Sinclair  refers 
above. 

If  any  one  can  still  suppose  that  these  European  writers,  when 
speaking  of  marl,  could  possibly  mean  to  include  such  beds  as  ours, 
or  would  so  include  them,  if  known  there,  I  have  a  sufficient  answer 
ready  in  the  fact  that  such  beds  of  fossil  shells  as  are  here  called 
marl  exist  in  Europe  and  in  great  extent — that  they  were  known 
to  and  were  described  by  authors  who  wrote  most  extensively  on 
marl — and  that  in  no  case  have  they  been  termed  or  considered  as 
marl. 

Many  and  extensive  beds  of  fossil  marine  shells  are  known  to 
exist  in  Europe,  which,  in  their  general  features,  physical  and 
chemical,  and  fitness  for  agricultural  uses,  must  be  similar  to  ours. 
Of  these  deposits,  both  in  England  and  France,  there  have  been 
applications  to  the  land,  though  to  very  limited  extent  compara- 
tively, and  the  fertilizing  value  is  recognised.  Scientific  observers, 
of  course,  know  that  these  beds  agree  with  true  marl  in  the  im- 
portant and  main  characteristic  of  being  in  part  composed  of  car- 
bonate of  lime.  Still,  in  the  only  three  agricultural  notices  of  these 
beds  of  fossil  shells  which  I  have  seen,  and  all  are  from  scientific 
agriculturists,  this  substance  is  not  called  marl ;  and  it  is  noticed 
under  a  different  head,  and  treated  as  if  a  different  manure.  The 
practical  cultivators  who  have  applied  it,  doubtless  deemed  this 
manure  as  different  from  marl  in  substance  and  qualities  as  in 
name. 

One  of  the  notices  referred  to  has  already  been  quoted  above, 
(20,  page  383),  in  the  words  of  Arthur  Young,  concerning  the 
Suffolk  "crag,"  the  name  used  for  this  deposit  in  England.    This 


FALUNS   AND    FALUNAGE    OF   TOLUA1NH.  39? 

scant  notice  is  all  that  is  taken  of  this  kind  of  fossil  manure,  in  that 
author's  voluminous  Agricultural  Survey  of  Suffolk,  and  of  which 
a  large  portion  is  devoted  to  marl  and  marling.  It  is  manifest 
from  his  expressions,  that  neither  Young  nor  the  Suffolk  farmers 
had  any  idea  of  this  "  crag"  being  marl. 

The  other  and  more  full  accounts  are  by  French  authors.  The 
latest  is  by  M.  Puvis,  who  has  written  so  extensively  on  lime  and 
marl,  and  whose  views  of  calcareous  manures  arc  worth  more  than 
those  of  any  other  European  writer,  previous  to  the  general  digest 
in  the  recent  Lectures  of  Prof.  Johnston.  Puvis'  remarks  on  tins 
subject,  of  which  all  will  be  translated  and  given  below,  follow  his 
Essay  on  Marl  in  the  Annates,  but  as  one  of  several  different  though 
connected  subjects — under  the  different  divisions  and  titles  of 
"  JPlatras,  or  remains  of  demolished  buildings" — "  Fahmage,  or 
use  of  shells  as  an  improver" — "  Gypsum" — and  "Wood-ashes." 
Under  the  head  of  falunage  the  following  remarks  occur : 

"43.   Of  Falunage,  or  the  use  of  shells,  as  an  improver  of  soil. 

"  The  namc/i//««s  has  been  given  to  those  beds  of  fossil  shells  which  are 
found,  whether  on  the  borders  of  the  sea,  or  in  the  interior  of  the  land.  In 
certain  places  the  falun  is  used  under  the  name  of  shell  marl  ;*  but  it  is  only 
the  falun  of  Touraine  [in  France],  of  which  the  use  in  agriculture  is  well 
known.  The  faluniere  there  forms  a  bed  of  three  leagues  in  length,  and  of 
variable  width  and  thickness.  The  falun  is  taken  out  from  many  feet  in 
depth ;  and  as  there  is  much  water,  it  is  obtained  by  the  force  of  many 
hands,  of  which  some  draw  off  the  water  while  others  get  out  the  falun.  It 
is  put  on  the  land  at  from  30  to  60  wagon  loads  to  the  hectare  [nearly  2.V 
acres]  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil.  Its  action  appears  at  least  as 
efficacious  as  that  of  maid ;  and  the  effects  last  long. 

"  They  use  in  England  a  much  lighter  dressing ;  not  more  than  one-half 
of  the  lightest  dressing  in  Touraine.  The  particular  qualities  and  fertilizing 
forces  may  be  different,  as  the  beds  are  composed  of  very  different  families 
of  shells  ;  so  that  each  region  may  be  right  in  its  practice.  The  duration 
of  a  falunage  in  England  is  longer  than  that  of  marl ;  and  its  energy  is  re- 
newed by  a  compost  of  barn-yard  manure  and  shells,  as  in  regard  to  marl 
and  lime.  The  soil  is  greatly  meliorated ;  still  more,  as  it  seems,  than  by 
lime  or  marl.  It  may  well  be  true  that  these  shell  beds  may  in  fact  contain 
some  albuminous  substances,  some  animal  parts,  which  add  to  the  effect 
of  the  carbonate  of  lime,  which  forms  the  principal  base  of  the  manure. 

"  There  are  found  in  France  these  shelly  beds  in  many  places.  They  are 
6poken  of  in  the  environs  of  Dax,  of  Grignon  (Seine-et-Oise),  of  Courtag- 
non  (in  Marne) ;  but  the  conchologists  seem  to  have  made  more  use  of  them 
than  the  agriculturists.     Doubtless,  they  are  to  be  found  in  many  other 

*  It  is  manifest  that  the  author,  in  reporting  this  provincial  and  particu- 
lar application  of  the  name  "shell  marl"  does  not  adopt  it,  or  approve  it. 
He  never  himself  uses  the  words  marl  (marne)  or  marling  (marnage)  applied 
to  this  earth;  but  always  falun  for  the  substance,  falunage  for  the  applica- 
tion of  it  as  manure  ;  and  faluniere  for  the  bed,  or  deposit  in  its  natural 
place,  or  for  the  excavatious  therein,  as  understood  in  the  next  succeeding 
article.  E.  R. 
34 


89i  fALUNAGE   IN   FUANCE. 

places.  These  deposits  are  one  of  our  mineral  treasures,  from  which  wo 
are  far  from  deriving  proper  advantages.  For  if  using  the  falun  at  the 
rate  of  100  hectolitres  to  the  hectare,  as  in  England,  it  might  be  trans- 
ported to  a  distance,  either  by  water  or  land  carriage.  And  what  further 
recommends  its  use,  at  least  as  much,  the  falun  is  not  accused  of  having 
impoverished  the  soil.  On  the  contrary  it  is  found  everywhere  improved."* 
— Annates  d1  Agriculture  Francaise,  1835. 

The  next  passages  are  translated  extracts  of  the  article  "  Falun" 
in  the  "  Cours  Gomplet,"  &c,  which  is  a  joint  contribution  by 
llozier  and  Cadet-de-Vaux. 

44.  "  This  name  is  given  to  a  great  body  of  marine  remains  which 
exist  in  Touraine,  over  an  extent  of  about  three  leagues  in  length,  and  of 
less  breadth.  Neither  the  exact  limits  nor  the  depth  of  this  bed  is  known. 
The  excavations  have  not  been  sunk  lower  than  20  feet,  because  of  the 
water  which  oozes  from  all  sides  into  these  falunieres.  What  a  deposit ! 
What  immense  quantity  of  shells  !  We  may  also  add,  what  a  treasure  !  For 
these  spoils  of  the  ocean  are  an  excellent  improver  of  soil. 

We  will  then  merely  consider  the  falun  as  an  improver. 

After  beiug  extracted  from  the  pit,  suffered  to  drain  and  become  dry,  it  is 
spread  on  the  fields  the  same  as  marl ;  and  the  proportion  varies  according 
to  the  quality  of  the  lands  on  which  it  is  spread — in  the  same  manner  as 
of  marl. 

"Here  is  the  difference  which  exists  between  these  two  improvers :  Marl 
is  a  calcareous  earth,  of  the  same  nature  as  the  falun,  but  it  is  mixed  with 
sand  and  argil ;  so  that  the  first  thing  to  do  when  one  marls  a  field  is  to 
know  well  the  [degree  of  purity  of  the]  marl.  This  knowledge  is  easy  to 
acquire  by  the  most  simple  analysis.  ....... 

.  .  .  .  The  falun  is  pure  calcareous  earth  ;  but  which  contains  more 
or  less  of  the  principles  which  were  united  to  the  calcareous  earth  in  the 
formation  of  the  shells.  Unless  constantly  soaked  in  water,  it  may  not 
have  lost  these  principles.     Then  the  falun  can  no  longer  be  considered  as 

a  pure  calcareous  earth,  and  destined  to  act  only  mechanically 

We  will  observe  that  the  falun  has,  in  common  with  marl,  no  influence  on 
the  fertility  of  the  field  which  receives  it  until  the  second  year ;  and  the 
effects  of  both  these  earths  become  enfeebled  at  length  ;  when  it  is  neces- 
sary to  apply  them  again." 

I  have  omitted  of  the  last  article  as  much  as  could  be  separated 
of  the  superfluous,  useless,  and  mistaken  statements — and  there  is 
not  much  else.  But  all  is  left  that  refers  to  what  I  designed  to 
show,  i.  e.,  that  the  authors  had  no  thought  that  the  falun  was 
marl. 

This  last  description  of  the  falun  of  Touraine  goes  to  show  that 
the  mass  was  of  shells  or  their  fragments  alone,  or  without  the 

*  This  ground  of  superior  value  assumed  for  the  falun,  I  take  as  indirect 
evidence,  in  addition  to  the  author's  direct  assertion,  that  this  kind  of 
manure  has  been  but  little  used,  or  that  little  is  known  of  the  effects.  The 
use  of  calcareous  manures  in  Europe  has  been  almost  entirely  empirical, 
and  not  directed  by  any  theory,  or  rational  rules.  Hence  damage  has  often 
been  done  by  improper  applications  of  both  lime  and  marl ;  and  if  the/<//(m 
has  been  harmless,  rich  and  abundant  as  it  is,  and  easy  to  apply,  it  must 
be  because  of  its  very  limited  use.     E.  li, 


OLD    VUM9   01'   MARL   OF   VIRGINIA.  o'J'J 

usual  admixture  of  sand  or  clay.  I  have  worked  a  particular  layer 
nearly  as  pure,  and  which  had  the  same  disadvantage  of  water 
pouring  in  through  the  very  open  texture  of  the  broken  shells. 
There  is  an  extensive  bed  of  as  pure  and  unmixed  fossil  shells,  near 
to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  there  quite  dry,  near  the  northern 
limit  of  sea-coast  of  South  Carolina.* 

45.  The  next  evidence  is  from  a  report  of  the  Rev.  John 
Clayton,  Hector  of  Crofton,  in  Yorkshire,  to  the  Royal  Society  of 
England,  in  1688.  The  writer  visited  Virginia,  and  this  was  the 
report  of  his  personal  and  somewhat  scientific  examinations.  It 
was  republished  in  the  4th  vol.  of  Farmers'  Register.  The  writer 
saw,  with  astonishment,  and  describes  the  beds  of  fossil  shells  in 
the  river  cliffs — and  though  with  much  looseness  and  inaccuracy, 
still  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  included  in  his  observations  not  only 
the  actual  beds  of  loose  oyster  shells,  but  the  petrified  oyster  shells  in 
other  places,  and  also  the  beds  of  other  and  various  fossil  sea  shells 
which  since  have  obtained  in  Virginia  the  provincial  term  of  marl! 
For  though  he  calls  all  of  them  "  oyster  shells,"  it  is  manifest  that 
he  also  referred  to  the  sea  shells,  as  he  particularly  describes  the 
"shark's  teeth"  and  large  vertebras  which  are  so  common  in  these 
beds,  and  never  known  in  the  deposits  of  oyster  shells  alone.  Now 
this  gentleman,  from  his  residence,  and  his  information,  could  not 
possibly  have  been  ignorant  of  marl  in  England.  Yet  in  all  his 
remarks  and  speculations  (some  very  wild),  on  these  beds  in  Vir- 
ginia, he  does  not  call  them  marl,  or  refer  to  any  similarity  of  these 
beds  to  marl— nor  even  suppose  any  use  for  ours,  other  than  that 
before  kuown,  of  burning  the  shells  to  make  lime  for  cement.  (See 
Fanners'  Register,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  642-3.) 

From  all  the  foregoing  quotations  and  evidences,  I  claim  that 
the  propositions  enumerated  in  the  beginning  of  this  article,  have 
been  sustained  fully  j  and  that  the  following  deductions  must  neces- 
sarily lie  made  : — 

1.  For  centuries  after  marling  had  been  recommended  by  Eng- 
lish books  on  agriculture,  and  extensively  practised  by  very  many 
farmers  of  England,  it  was  not  generally,  if  at  all,  understood  by 
either  writers  or  farmers  that  calcareous  earth  was  the  all-important 
or  even  an  essential  ingredient  of  marl,  as  a  manuring  agent ;  and 
many  clays  used  for  and  as  marl,  certainly  contained  no  carbonate 
of  lime. 

2.  Though  more  lately,  English  writers  have  taught  correctly 
that  marl  is  calcareous,  and  also  (generally)  that  the  value  of  the 
manure  depends  mainly  on  the  lime  contained,  still  the  previous 

*  Described  in  tlio  supplement  to  my  Report  of  the  Agricultural  Survey 
of  South  Carolina.  The  deposit  is  on  and  near  Price's  creek,  in  Horry— and 
is  of  the  post-p!ioceue  division.     E.  ft. 


400  MARL   NOT   V ALL  ED   FORMERLY. 

ignorance  continued  to  prevail  among  the  more  illiterate  farmers; 
and  even  some  writers  of  reputation,  to  recent  times,  have  shown 
in  their  expressions  the  influence  remaining  of  the  previous  and 
universal  ignorance  on  this  subject.  Long  after  these  more  correct 
views  of  the  constitution  and  true  source  of  value  of  marl  had  been 
published  by  the  then  most  enlightened  writers,  their  readers  did 
not  learn  from  them  enough  of  their  truth  to  dispel  the  previously 
long  existing  and  prevailing  erroneous  views.  Hence  the  "  soapy 
feel,"  and  clayey  constitution,  and  the  crumbling  in  water,  still 
continued  to  be  regarded  by  all  as  essential  qualities  and  important 
values  of  any  manure  operating  as  marl;  and  comparatively  little- 
importance  was  attached  to  the  calcareous  ingredient — even  when 
that  was  not  entirely  disregarded  or  unknown. 

Hence  Bordley,  an  extensive  reader  of  the  best  and  newest 
English  agricultural  books,  himself  an  agricultural  author,  and 
moreover  a  practical  and  wealthy  farmer,  on  the  "marl  region" 
(now  so  known)  of  Maryland,  did  not  learn  from  his  English 
teachers  and  guides  that  marl  was  necessarilv  calcareous;  and  never 
suspected  that  the  beds  of  fossil  shells,  so  abundant  in  his  own 
neighbourhood  (if  not  on  his  own  farm),  either  were  marl,  or  had 
any  value  as  manure.  We  may  also  infer  that  our  great  Virginian 
agriculturist,  John  Taylor  of  Caroline,  a  much  later  writer  than 
Bordley,  and  also  well  acquainted  with  English  agricultural  authors, 
had  learned  nothing  more  either  of  true  marl,  or  of  our  beds  of 
fossil  shells  being  (as  indicated  by  the  vulgar  name),  identical  with 
marl.  Further:  Philip  Tabb,  of  Toddsbury,  in  Gloucester  county, 
was  one  of  the  earliest  good  farmers  of  Virginia,  and  deservedly 
the  most  celebrated  in  his  time  for  his  judicious  management,  and 
for  his  success  in  improving  his  farm  and  its  productions.  Yet 
from  all  his  lights,  and  doubtless  his  general  knowledge  of  English 
marling,  he  never  suspected  to  be  marl,  and  never  thought  of  using 
as  such,  or  for  manure,  the  bed  of  what  is  now  called  marl,  which 
underlies  the  whole  farm,  and  is  generally  accessible  within  4  or  5 
feet  of  the  surface.  It  has  been  only  in  latter  days,  that  this  most 
abundant  and  easily  accessible  bed  has  been  opened,  and  used 
largely  and  advantageously  as  manure  for  this  farm. 

3.  And  further  :  No  person,  deriving  his  information  solely  from 
the  descriptions  of  marl  by  English  writers,  and  their  remarks  on 
the  subject,  and  searching  for  marl  by  aid  of  their  directions,  would 
have  supposed  he  had  found  the  object  of  his  search  in  the  marine 
fossil  shell  formation  of  this  region — so  entirely  different  as  is  this 
from  all  the  marls  (true  or  false)  described  by  those  writers,  iu 
outward  appearance,  texture,  and  other  physical  qualities  always; 
and  in  some  cases  there  is  no  less  difference  in  the  more  important 
chemical  constitution,  in  regard  to  calcareous  earth  being  an  iu- 
gredient  or  not. 


MOST   ANCIENT   NOTICES   OP   MARL.  401 

Marl  and  Marling  of  the  Ancients. 

1  will  add  to  these  extracts,  though  merely  as  a  matter  of  curi- 
osity, the  most  ancient  notices  of  marl  extant,  translated  from  the 
•works  of  Varro  and  Pliny,  respectively  nearly  1900  and  1800 
years  old.  Their  great  antiquity  would  alone  serve  to  invest  these 
statements  with  much  interest.  And  it  is  also  interesting  and 
amusing  to  observe  that  nearly  as  much  was  known  of  the  proper- 
ties of  marl  by  the  then  barbarous  Britons,  more  than  1800  years 
ago,  as  by  their  enlightened  descendants  1700  years  later.  For  if, 
in  the  report  by  Pliny,  the  proper  names  were  omitted,  and  the 
piece  appeared  without  date  or  authority,  it  might  well  be  supposed 
to  be  from  some  one  of  the  English  publications  on  marl  which 
appeared  after  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  Pliny,  and  the 
Gaulish  and  British  farmers  from  whom  his  statements  were  indirect- 
ly derived,  were  as  ignorant  of  the  true  character  and  action  of  marl, 
as  were  the  farmers,  and  also  most  of  the  best  agricultural  writers, 
as  late  as  1780 — but  not  more  ignorant.  Like  these  much  later 
writers,  Pliny  seems  not  to  have  known,  or,  if  knowing,  not  to  have 
attached  any  importance  to  the  calcareous  quality  of  marl;  nor 
was  he,  more  than  they,  at  all  precise  in  distinguishing  between 
marl  and  non-calcareous  clay.  Still  it  may  be  inferred,  from  the 
context,  and  from  indirect  testimony  rather  than  the  direct  state- 
ments of  the  author,  that  either  true  marl  or  chalk  was  always  re- 
ferred to;  and  of  course  that  it  was  truly  calcareous  manure  of 
which  he  spoke.  The  manure  referred  to  as  being  used  by  the 
Edui  and  Pictones,  calx,  is  named  with  sufficient  exactness;  and 
if  not  lime,  as  rendered  in  the  translation,  it  must  have  been  car- 
bonate of  lime  in  some  form,  as  calx  properly  means.  But  by 
using  the  word  calx  in  this  case,  and  creta  when  chalk  obviously 
was  meant,  it  seems  likely  that  the  former  was  designed  for  cal- 
cined lime. 

Translated  from  "  De  Re  Rustica."      Var.  Lib.  I.  Cap.  7. 

"  In  Transalpine  Gaul  as  far  as  the  Rhine,  when  I  commanded  the  army, 
I  went  into  some  regions,  where  neither  the  vine,  the  olive,  nor  apples 
grew,  and  where  they  manured  their  fields  with  a  white  chalk  dug  out  of 
the  earth  [candida  fossicia  creta]. 

Translated  from  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  Lib.  XVII.,  Cap.  5,  6,  7,  8. 

"  To  improve  land  (as  some  conceive)  by  the  application  of  rich  earth  to 
poor,  or  of  porous  and  sandy  to  moist  and  very  fertile,  is  the  work  of  folly. 
What  can  he  hope  who  pursues  such  practice  ? 

"TRere  is  another  method,  which  was  discovered  in  Britain  and  Gaul, 
of  fertilizing  land  with  a  kind  of  earth  which  they  call  marl  \marga\. 
Greater  fertility  is  perceived.  There  is  a  peculiar  fatness  \_adrps~\  of  this 
earth  which  like  the  glandules  in  bodies  serves  as  a  nucleus  for  increased 
fertility. 

"  The  Greeks  also  have  not  neglected  this  plan  ;  for  what  have  they  failed 
31* 


402  plixy's  account  of  marl  and  marling. 

to  try  ?     A  •white  clay  [candida  argilla]  which  they  use  in  Megaris,  hut 
only  on  moist  and  cold  soils,  they  call  Leucargillon. 

"It  is  proper  to  describe  with  care  that  used  to  enrich  the  soils  of  Gaul 
and  Britain.  At  first  there  were  two  kinds,  but  of  late  several  others  have 
begun  to  be  used  as  their  information  increased.  There  is  the  white,  red, 
dove-coloured,  argillaceous,  porous  [tophacea],  and  sandy.  Its  character 
is  two-fold,  rough  or  unctuous  [atpera  aut  pinguis].  Specimens  of  both  are 
at  hand.  Its  effect  is  likewise  two-fold,  either  to  bring  grain  alone,  or  also 
to  nourish  grass.  The  white  porous  [tophacea  alba~\  marl  nourishes  grain, 
and  if  fountl  among  springs  is  immensely  rich.  It  is  rough  to  the  touch, 
and  if  applied  in  too  large  quantities  it  burns  the  land.  The  next  is  the  red 
marl,  which  they  call  capnumargos,  from  the  stone  being  intermixed  with  fine 
sand}-  earth.  The  stone  is  crushed  in  the  field  itself,  and  for  a  few  years 
the  stalks  (of  grain)  are  cut  with  difficulty  on  account  of  the  pieces  of  stone. 
Yet  in  consequence  of  its  lightness  it  is  applied  at  very  little  expense,  less 
tiian  one-half  the  cost  of  the  others.  It  is  spread  thin,  and  is  though!  to  be 
mixed  with  salt  Each  kind  once  applied  will  last  for  fifty  years,  increasing 
the  product  both  of  grain  and  grass. 

"  The  white  is  the  main  variety  of  those  which  are  known  to  be  unctuous 
[pulpites'].  Of  this  there  are  several  kinds.  The  most  caustic  [mordaces- 
simum]  is  that  of  which  we  have  spoken  above.  Another  is  a  kind  of  white 
chalk  [alba  creta]  used  to  scour  silver.  It  is  brought  up  out  of  the  earth, 
shafts  being  sunk  often  a  hundred  feet  deep,  narrow  at  the  mouth,  but  en- 
larging within  as  in  mines.  This  kind  is  principally  used  in  Britain,  and 
lasts  eighty  years.  Nor  is  there  an  instance  of  any  one  who  has  twice 
applied  it  to  the  same  land  during  his  life.  A  third  kind  of  white  they 
call  glUchromargon.  It  is  a  fullers  chalk  (creta fullonia)  mixed  with  unc- 
tuous [pingui]  earth,  better  for  grass  than  grain,  so  that  one  crop  being 
taken  off,  before  the  next  sowing,  the  richest  grass  can  again  be  cut. 
When  it  is  iu  grain,  it  brings  no  grass  in  addition.  It  lasts  thirty  years, 
but  when  too  thick  it  stifles  the  land  like  siguinum  [old  cement  of  terras, 
gypsum,  kc.].  The  dove-coloured  the  Gauls  call  by  their  name  of  Eglcco- 
paia.  It  is  gotten  out  in  clods  like  stones,  but  by  exposure  to  sun  and  frost 
it  separates  into  very  thin  laniinse.  This  is  equally  rich.  The  sandy  is 
in  default  of  other  kinds ;  in  wet,  oozy  [uhginosis]  places,  however,  it 
is  used  even  when  others  can  be  had.  The  Ubii  are  the  only  people  we 
know,  who  when  they  cultivate  very  rich  land,  manure  it  by  digging  up  the 
earth  more  than  three  feet  deep  and  spreading  it  on  to  a  foots  thickness 
[quacunque  terra  infra  tres  pedes  effossa,  et  pedali  crassitudine  injecta  latifi- 
coit].     But  it  does  good  for  not  more  than  ten  years. 

"  The  Edui  and  Pictones*  made  their  fields  very  rich  with  lime  [cah] 
which  likewise  is  found  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  both  olives  and  vines. 
All  marl  [marga]  must  be  put  on  ploughed  land;  so  that  its  fertilizing  pro- 
pertiea  may  be  quickly  absorbed:  and  that  which  at  first  is  too  harsh 
[aspera]  and  does  not  at  once  produce  an  abundance  of  herbage  [qua  in 
herbas  nor.  rffunditur],  requires  a  small  amount  of  dung,  or  else  by  its  fresh- 
ness [novitate]  it  injures  the  soil,  and  is  not  fertilizing  till  after  the  first 
year.  It  is  also  important  to  note  the  kind  of  soil  on  which  it  is  to  be  put 
A  dry  marl,  whether  the  chalk  [creta]  or  the  dove-coloured  [columbiua.]  is 
best  adapted  to  a  moist  soil,  and  an  unctuous  marl  [pinguis)  to  an  arid  soil, 
ti.e  one  quality  serving  to  temper  the  other." 

*  The  Edui  and  Pictones  were  the  ancient  Gaulish  inhabitants  of  the 
modern  Autuu  and  Poictiers,  respectively,   of  France. — London  Quarterly 


NOTE  III. 

THE   EARLIEST  KNOWN   SUCCESSFUL  APPLICATIONS   OF   FOSSIL 
SHELLS  AS  MANURE. 

The  two  old  experiments  described  at  pp.  114-15,  though  the  only 
applications  of  fossil  shells  known  to  me  previous  to  the  commence- 
ment of  my  use  of  this  manure,  were  not  all  that  had  been  made, 
and,  which  being  deemed  failures,  had  been  abandoned  and  forgot- 
ten. Another,  within  a  few  miles  of  my  residence,  was  brought  to 
light  and  notice  afterwards,  by  an  old  negro,  who  was  perhaps  the 
only  person  then  living  who  had  any  knowledge  of  the  facts.  After 
I  had  found  enough  success  in  using  this  manure  to  attract  to  it 
some  attention,  Mr.  Thomas  Cocke  of  Aberdeen,  was  one  of  those 
who  began,  but  still  with  doubt  and  hesitation,  to  use  marl  to  some 
considerable  extent.  One  of  his  early  applications  was  to  his  gar- 
den. The  old  gardener  opposed  this,  and  told  his  master  that  he 
knew  "the  stuff  was  good  for  nothing,  because,  when  he  was  a  boy, 
his  old  master  (Mr.  Cocke's  father)  had  used  some  at  Bonaccord, 
and  it  had  never  done  the  least  good."  Being  asked  whether  he 
could  show  the  spot  where  this  trial  had  been  made,  he  answered 
that  he  could  easily,  as  he  drove  the  cart  which  carried  out  the 
marl.  The  place  was  immediately  sought.  It  was  on  the  most 
elevated  part  of  a  very  poor  field,  which  had  been  cleared  and  ex- 
hausted fully  a  century  before.  The  marled  space  (a  square  of 
about  half  an  acre),  though  still  poor,  was  at  least  twice  as  produc- 
tive as  the  surrounding  land,  though  a  slight  manuring  from  the 
farm-yard  had  been  applied  a  few  years  before  to  the  surrounding 
land,  and  omitted  on  this  spot,  which  was  supposed,  from  its 
appearance,  to  have  been  the  site  of  some  former  dwelling-house 
and  yard,  of  which  every  trace  had  disappeared  except  the  perma- 
nent improvement  of  the  soil  usual  from  that  cause.  A  close 
examination  showed  some  fragments  of  the  hardest  shells  remaining, 
so  as  to  prove  that  the  old  man  had  not  mistaken  the  spot.  This, 
like  other  early  applications,  had  been  made  on  ground  too  poor  for 
the  marl  to  show  but  very  slight  early  effect;  and  as  only  one  kind 
of  operation  of  any  manure  was  then  thought  of  (that  which  dung 
produces),  it  is  not  strange  that  both  the  master  and  servant  should 
have  agreed  in  the  opinion  that  the  application  was  useless,  and 
that  all  persons  who  knew  of  the  application  remained  under  that 
opinion  until  almost  all  remembrance  of  the  experiment  had  been  lost. 

Since  the  printing  of  the  previous  pages  in  which  references  were 
made  to  the  earliest  application  of  marl  in  Virginia,  I  have  obtained 
some  further  information  thereupon,  which,  however  imperfect, 
may  yet  be  interesting.  In  a  recent  conversation  (1842)  with 
William  Short,  Esq.,  now  of  Philadelphia,  the  son  of  Major  Wil- 
liam Short  who  made  the  experiment,  he  told  me  that  he  well  re- 

(403) 


404  EARLY   TRIALS   OF   MARL. 

collected  when  his  father's  first  and  accidental  discovery  of  marl 
was  made  on  the  Spring  Garden  farm  in  Surry  (in  digging  a  ditch 
across  a  wet  swamp),  and  his  sanguine  and  confident  anticipations 
of  deriving  from  its  use  great  improvement  and  profit.  Mr.  Short 
further  stated  that  he  was  then  so  young,  and  always  so  little 
acquainted  with  agriculture,  that  he  did  not  know  what  were  the 
precise  facts  in  regard  to  the  failure  of  his  father's  experiment  and 
hopes ;  but  he  well  remembers  that  the  result  was  deemed  an  entire 
failure,  and  that  it  caused  total  disappointment. 

Such  a  conclusion  I  had  supposed  before  being  so  informed.  I 
had  also  inferred,  and  no  doubt  correctly,  that  the  supposed  failure 
and  truly  slight  benefit,  and  the  mistaken  deductions  from  the 
results,  were  such  as  have  been  stated.  I  have  since  written  to 
the  present  proprietor  of  the  land,  Francis  Kuffin,  Esq.,  to  obtain 
the  latest  information  concerning  the  results  of  this  application, 
now  some  sixty-five  years  old;  and  the  most  recent  effects,  as 
learned  from  him,  will  be  here  stated  in  connexion  with  the  earlier, 
which  will  be  repeated. 

It  was  before  said  (page  114)  that  this  old  marling  (of  about  10 
acres)  was  done  on  poor  sandy  land,  kept  (as  was  the  then  univer- 
sal course  of  tillage)  under  exhausting  culture  and  close  grazing 
for  many  years  thereafter;  that  from  1812  the  treatment  had  been 
lenient;  and  that  in  1819,  the  superiority  of  the  marled  part  was 
visible,  and  that  part  of  the  outline  could  be  then  distinctly  traced. 
In  1834,  Mr.  F.  Ruffin  applied  to  this  and  some  acres  of  adjoining 
land,  pine  leaves  at  the  rate  of  75  one-horse  cart-loads  to  the  acre. 
The  benefit  from  this  vegetable  cover  was  so  much  greater  on  the 
marled  part,  that  the  superior  growth  of  the  next  crop  of  corn  and 
of  the  succeeding  crop  of  wheat,  "  marked  out  the  limits  of  the  old 
marling  very  conspicuously."  The  whole  was  sown  in  clover  in 
the  spring  while  under  wheat;  that  on.  the  marled  part  lived  and 
stood  pretty  well,  while  nearly  every  plant  of  clover  on  the  part 
not  marled  died  in  the  course  of  the  year.  In  1837,  the  whole 
field  was  marled,  without  excepting  the  old  marled  part;  and  the 
whole  was  again  littered  with  pine  leaves.  The  crops  of  corn  and 
wheat  since  have  shown  less  improvement  from  these  applications 
on  the  piece  thus  re-marled,  than  on  the  adjoining  land  then  marled 
for  the  first  time.  Indeed,  the  recent  and  additional  increase  of 
corn  and  wheat,  since  re-marling,  has  been  very  little.  These  re- 
sults, early  and  late,  are  precisely  such  as  might  have  been  antici- 
pated from  the  action  of  calcareous  manures,  and  the  condition  of 
this  land  and  its  management. 

Another  experiment  of  marling,  made  earlier  than  my  first,  by 
Mr.  Richard  Hill,  in  King  William  county,  has  been  heard  of 
since  the  publication  of  the  last  edition,  and  of  which  the  circum- 
stances were  given  at  length  at  pages  22  and  27  of  vol.  ix.  Far- 


EARLY  TRIALS   OF   MARL.  405 

mors'  Register,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred.  It  is  enough  hero 
to  state,  that  the  effects  were  beneficial  at  first;  but  so  injurious 
(because  of  the  excessive  quantity)  on  several  succeeding  crops, 
that  this  trial  also  was  deemed  a  failure,  and  the  marling  a  source 
of  loss;  and  there  was  no  repetition  of  mtirling  in  that  neighbour- 
hood until  about  1820,  when  other  and  better  views  began  there  to 
be  first  entertained. 

There  was  also  successful  and  continued  use  of  this  manure  in 
James  City  county,  in  Virginia,  made  earlier  than  mine ;  and  still 
earlier  by  Mr.  John  Singleton,  in  Talbot  county,  Maryland. 
It  appears  that  the  early  (though  chance-directed)  combination  of 
putrescent  manures  with  marl,  in  both  these  places,  served  to  prove 
the  value  of  the  latter,  and  perhaps  to  prevent  it  being  there  also 
abandoned  as  worthless,  as  in  the  other  cases.  But  though  the 
application  was-  continued,  and  with  great  success  and  profit,  the 
knowledge  of  these  facts  and  the  example  extended  very  slowly ; 
and  the  then  want  of  communication  among  farmers  kept  all  igno- 
rant of  these  practices  for  years,  except  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  commencement  of  each.  I  have  since  endeavoured  to  ascer- 
tain the  time  of  the  first  applications  in  James  City,  and  have  been 
informed  that  it  was  in  1810.  Mr.  Singleton's,  in  Maryland,  were 
begun  as  early  as  1805.  His  own  account  of  his  practice  (which 
will  be  annexed,  as  an  interesting  statement  of  the  earliest  profitable 
use  of  this  manure),  was  first  published  in  1818,  in  the  4th  volume 
of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Philadelphia  Agricultural  Society  (page  238). 
The  date  of  his  letter  is  Dec.  31,  1817.  My  first  experiment  was 
made  the  following  month  (Jan.  1818),  but  more  than  a  year  before 
I  met  with  Mr.  Singleton's  publication,  or  had  heard  of  an}'  appli- 
cation of  fossil  shells,  except  the  two  failures  mentioned  in  page  115. 
But,  however  beneficial  may  have  been  found  the  operation  of  maid 
in  Talbot  and  in  James  City,  it  is  evident,  from  Mr.  Singleton's 
letter,  and  from  all  other  sources  of  information,  that  the  mode  of 
operation  remained  altogether  unsuspected  by  those  who  used  it; 
and  this  was  perhaps  the  principal  cause  why  the  practice  was  so 
slow  iu  spreading.  It  is  now  [1835]  thirty  years  since  the  first 
proofs  were  exhibited  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Singleton ;  yet,  according 
to  the  report  of  the  geological  survey  of  the  lower  part  of  Maryland 
(submitted  to  the  legislature  of  Maryland  at  its  recent  session  of 
1834-5),  it  appears,  though  the  value  of  marl  is  well  understood, 
and  much  use  of  it  made  in  Talbot  county,  and  part  of  Queen  Ann's 
county,  yet  that  almost  no  use  has  been  made  of  it  on  the  other  and 
much  more  extensive  parts  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland — and 
none  whatever  west  of  the  Chesapeake  in  that  state,  where  it  is 
found  iu  abundance.  Such  at  least  are  the  inferences  from  Dr. 
Ducatel's  report,  though  in  part  drawn  from  indirect  testimony, 
more  than  direct  and  particular  assertions. 


406 


MR.    SINGLETON  S    MARLING. 


The  slight,  and  almost  contemptuous  manner,  in  which  marl  is 
mentioned  by  so  well  informed  an  agriculturist  aa  Taylor,  as  late 
as  1814,  when  his  Arator  was  published  (and  which  remained  un- 
altered in  his  3d  edition  of  1817),  proves  that  almost  nothing  was 
then  known  of  the  value  of  this  manure.  All  that  seems  to  relate 
to  our  abundant  deposits  of  fossil  shells,  or  to  marl  generally,  is 
contained  in  the  two  following  passages : — 

"  Without  new  accessions  of  vegetable  matter,  successive  heavy  dress- 
ings with  lime,  gypsum,  and  even  marl,  have  been  frequently  found  to 
terminate  in  impoverishment.  Hence  it  is  inferred,  that  minerals  operate 
as  an  excitement  only  to  the  manure  furnished  by  the  atmosphere.  From 
this  fact  results  the  impossibility  of  renovating  an  exhausted  soil,  by  re- 
sorting to  fossils,  which  will  expel  the  poor  remnant  of  life ;  and  indeed 
it  is  hardly  probable  that  divine  wisdom  has  lodged  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  the  manure  necessary  for  its  surface." — Arator,  p.  52,  2d  edition,  Balti- 
more. 

"  Of  lime  and  marl  we  have  an  abundance,  but  experience  does  not  enti- 
tle me  to  say  anything  of  either." — Id.  p.  80. 

From  John  Singleton  to  the  Hon.  Wm.  Tilghman. 
********* 

"Tour  first  question  is,  'whether  what  I  use  be  marl,  or  soil  mixed  with 
shells  ?' 

'•Whether  it  be  marl  or  not,  I  will  not  pretend  to  determine,  as  I  have 
seen  no  description  of  marl  that  answers  exactly  to  it ;  but  Mr.  Tench 
Tilghman  informed  me  he  had  seen  a  description  of  marl  used  in  Scotland, 
exactly  similar  to  what  I  use  on  the  farm  on  which  I  reside,  and  which  is 
the  improved  land  you  mention.  I  have  not  seen  the  account  myself. 
However,  this,  and  all  mixtures  of  broken  marine  shells,  of  which  there  is 
a  great  variety,  are  now  denominated  marl,  here.  What  I  consider  the 
best,  and  which  I  most  use,  is  composed  of  small  parts  of  marine  shells, 
chiefly  scallop  shell,  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  square,  or  somewhat 
longer  or  smaller,  with  scarce  any  sand  or  soil  with  it :  some  of  it  seems  to 
be  petrified,  and  is  dug  up  in  lumps,  like  stone,  from  four  or  five,  to  forty 
or  fifty  pounds  in  weight,  hard  to  break  even  with  the  eye  of  an  axe,  and 
will  remain  for  years,  tumbled  about  with  the  plough,  before  it  is  entirely 
broken  to  pieces,  and  mixed  with  the  soil ;  indeed  you  may  observe  it  in 
some  parts  of  the  bank,  where  the  soil  has  been  washed  from  it.  appearing 
like  rock  stone ;  but  if  broken  and  pulverized  a  little,  it  effervesces  very 
much  with  acids.  *  * 

"  I  have  applied  it  to  all  the  soils  on  my  farm,  some  of  which  is  a  cold 
white  clay,  and  wet ;  others  a  light  loam,  and  sandy.  I  find  it  useful  to 
each  kind,  and  manure  my  land  all  over  with  it,  without  distinction,  and  to 
advantage ;  putting  a  smaller  quantity  upon  the  looser  soils.  I  have  applied 
it  as  a  top  dressing  on  clover,  and  also  where  clover  has  not  been  sown, 
with  a  view  to  improving  the  grass,  and  also  to  be  satisfied  whether  it 
would  not  be  best  for  the  ground,  to  let  it  lie  spread  on  the  surface,  for  a 
year  before  the  ground  was  put  into  cultivation.  But  it  has  not  answered 
my  expectation.  I  could  not  perceive  any  advantage  from  that  mode  of 
application.  I  now  constantly  apply  it  to  the  ground  cultivated  in  corn ; 
carting  it  out  in  the  winter  and  spring,  and  putting  on  from  twenty  to  forty 
cart-loads  per  acre,  according  to  the  ground,  and  the  previous  quantity 


MR.    SINGLETON'S   MARLING.  407 

that  bad  been  put  on,  in  former  cultivations,  dividing  each  load  into  from 
four  to  eight  small  heaps,  for  the  greater  case  in  spreading,  according  to 
the  size  of  the  load.  Some  is  put  on  before,  and  some  after  the  ground  is 
broken  up,  but  it  is  all  worked  into  the  soil  by  the  cultivation  of  the  corn, 
and  it  never  fails  of  considerably  improving  the  crop  of  corn,  as  also  the 
ground  wherever  the  marl  is,  especially  in  largest  quantity.  There  is  :v 
small  green  moss,  and  black  moist  appearance,  on  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
when  not  cultivated;  as  you  perceive  about  old  walls,  and  in  strong  ground. 
Though  the  preceding  is  the  common  mode  in  which  I  use  Uic  marl,  I  do 
not  think  it  the  best ;  I  mix  some  in  my  farm-yard,  with  the  farm-yard  and 
Stable  manure;  and  would  prefer  mixing  and  applying  all  that  I  use  thus 
mixed,  but  for  the  labour  of  double  cartage  which  I  cannot  as  yet  accom- 
plish, manuring  so  largely  as  I  do.  I  cultivate  one  hundred  acres  yearly, 
and  constantly  manure  the  whole  of  what  I  cultivate;  employing  only  four 
carts,  and  four  bauds  with  the  carts,  which  do  all  the  manuring  and  cart- 
ing on  the  farm. 

"  Your  next  question  is,  '  what  has  been  my  rotation  of  crops,  and  mode 
of  cultivating,  since  I  have  used  this  manure  ?' 

"Since  I  began  to  use  the  marl,  and  bend  my  attention  to  improvement 
by  manure,  I  have  cultivated  only  corn  and  wheat,  sowing  my  ground  in 
clover,  and  using  the  plaster.  Instead  of  cultivating  all  my  ground  in  corn, 
and  sowing  wheat  ou  it  as  heretofore,  I  divided  my  cultivation  into  two 
parts,  of  titty  acres  each,  putting  one  part  into  corn,  which  I  was  able  to 
accomplish  manuring  time  enough  for  the  corn,  and  making  a  fallow  of  the 
other  part,  manuring  as  much  of  it  as  I  could  accomplish  before  the  time 
for  sowing  wheat;  and  disregarding,  in  a  degree,  all  smaller  crops,  which 
I  could  not  attend  to,  as  an  object,  without  increasing  my  number  of  hands, 
and  interfering  with  the  main  business.  I  went  on  in  this  manner,  till  I 
found  I  could  easily  accomplish  manuring  one  hundred  acres  and  upwards, 
per  annum.  Having  got  my  ground  to  that  state  that  I  can  risk  making  a 
crop  without  manure,  I  am  now  about  discarding  fallow,  being  able  to 
mauure  my  whole  hundred  acres  time  enough  for  cropping  in  the  spring, 
by  beginning  to  manure  for  the  next  year  as  soon  as  the  spring  manuring 
is  finished.  I  shall  in  future  have  no  wheat  in  fallow,  but  sow  it  after  corn 
and  other  crops,  from  which  I  am  satisfied  I  can  make  more  from  my 
ground  than  by  naked  fallow,  which  I  always  considered  unprofitable, 
though  you  made  more  wheat,  except  for  the  advantage  of  having  more 
time  to  manure.  ***** 

"  In  saving  my  corn  crop,  I  cut  it  up  without  pulling  it  from  the  stalk 
as  usual,  and  cart  it  in  all  together,  then  husk  it  out,  leaving  the  husk  to 
the  stalk :  I  lay  these  near  my  feeding  yard,  and  throw  them  into  it  twice  a 
day :  this  gives  us  a  large  quantity  of  strong  healthy  food  for  the  cattle, 
which  serves  them  all  winter,  and  keeps  them  in  good  condition  without 
any  other  food ;  makes  a  large  quantity  of  excellent  manure,  and  a  fine  dry 
feeding  yard.  As  opportunity  can  be  found,  we  cart  marl,  fuller's  earth, 
clay,  and  any  good  soil  that  is  convenient,  into  this  yard,  which  being 
mixed  with  the  stalks,  and  straw,  or  anything  else,  penning  the  cattle  on  it 
through  the  winter  and  summer,  instead  of  penning  on  the  field,  in  the 
common  way,  we  have  a  large  quantity  of  manure  to  go  out  in  the  fall,  and 
next  winter ;  it  is  put  into  the  field,  in  the  intermediate  rows,  between  the 
rows  of  marl,  as  far  as  it  will  go,  and  they  will  get  mixed  in  the  cultiva- 
tion. AVe  also  convert  the  scouring  of  our  ditches,  the  head-lands  of  the 
fields,  and  all  waste-ground  that  we  can,  into  manure,  by  carting  litter, 
from  the  woods,  yard  manure,  or  litter,  &c,  and  mixing  with  them;  so 
that  I  can  nearly,  or  quite,  now,  accomplish  making  farm-yard  and  this 


408  KB.  singleton's  marling. 

V 
kind  of  manure,  sufficient  to  go  over  my  whole  hundred  acres  annually. 
For  the  last  two  years,  I  have  made  more  manure  than  I  couid  accoi; 
or  effect  carrying  out,  though  I  have  manured  from  ten   to   twenty 
more  than  my  hundred,  each  year,  with  part  marl  and  part  farm-yard,  but 
not  the  whole  with  both,  as  I  hope  to  be  able  to  do  in  future:  but  it  will 
be  necessary  to  increase  my  carting  force  to  effect  it.  and  I  clearly  see  I 
can  raise  sufficient  manure  for  the  purpose  :   heretofore  I  have  manured  my 
corn  ground,  fifty  acres,  with  marl,   and  my  fallow  with  part, farm-yard 
manure,  and  pnrt  marl,  as  mentioned  I  that  you  will  perceive  the 

improvement  made  on  my  soil  has  not  been  effected  by  marl  alone,  but  in 
conjunction  with  farm-yard  manure,  clover,  and  plaster,  and  by  making  it  a 
point  to  manure  with  something  all  the  ground  I  put  into  cultivation  :  so 
that  every  time  I  cultivated  a  field,  that  field  was  improved,  and  not  in  any 
degree  impoverished  by  the  cultivation.  By  this  means,  and  the  Divine  as- 
sistance, I  have  effected  that  improvement  of  my  farm,  which  is  so  very 
striking  to  the  observation  of  every  person  acquainted  with  it.  *  *  * 
"In  August.  1805,  in  digging  down  a  bank  on  the  side  of  a  cove,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  causeway,  1  observed  a  shelly  appearance,  which  it 
struck  me  might  improve  clay  soil ;  I  took  some  of  it  immediately  to  the 
house,  and  putting  it  into  a  glass,  with  vinegar,  found  it  effervesced  very 
much:   this  determined  me  to  try  it  as  a  manure:    accord;:  -  "em- 

ber. I  carted  out  about  eighty  cart-loads,  and  put  it  ou  a  piece  of  ground, 
fallow,  preparing  for  wheat,  trying  it  in  different  proportions,  at  tLe  rate 
of  from  twenty-seven  to  about  a  hundred  loads  per  the  ground 

was  sown  in  wheat.  I  could  not,  myself,  be  satisfied  that  there  was  any 
difference  through  the  winter  and  spring,  although  General  Lloyd,  who 
was  viewing  it  with  me  in  the  spring,  thought  he  could  perceive  some  dif- 
ference in  favour  of  the  marl ;  but  at  harvest  time,  the  wheat,  though  not 
more  luxuriant  in  growth,  or  better  head,  was  considerably  thicker  on  the 
ground:  and  after  the  wheat  was  taken  off,  the  ground  where  the  marl  had 
been  put  was  set  with  white  clover,  no  clover  being  on  the  ground  on 
either  side  of  it.-  The  next  year,  1S0G,  I  discovered  it  in  the  drain  into 
the  head  of  the  cove,  which  I  immediately  ditched,  and  from  the  ditch  put 
out  seven  hundred  loads,  on  the  fallow  ground.  The  effect,  as  to  the  wheat 
and  clover,  was  the  same  (this  was  put,  for  experiment,  at  the  rate  of  from 
forty  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  cart-loads  per  acre),  though  the  marl  was 
not  of  the  same  kind  as  the  other,  but  more  mixed  with  sand  and  surface 
soil,  being  taken  from  the  low  ground,  by  ditching,  and  all  mixed  together. 
I  also  tried  it  on  corn  ground,  spread  out  as  above  mentioned,  and  found 
the  effect  immediate,  as  to  the  corn ;  and  in  the  same  manner  as  above 
described,  as  to  the  wheat  sown  on  the  corn  ground.  This  induced  me  to 
persevere  in  the  use  of  it,  which  I  have  done  ever  since,  adopting  the  mode 
I  mentioned  before,  and  putting  it  at  first  froai  forty  to  seventy  loads  per 
acre,  till  I  have  now  come  down  as  low  as  eighteen  or  twenty  loads  per  acre, 
going  the  third  time  over  the  ground  with  it."'  *  *  *  * 


NOTE  IV. 

FIRST  VIEWS  WHICH  LED  TO  MARLING  IN  PRINCE  GEORGE  COUNTY. 
(From  the  Farmers'  Register,  Nov.  1839,  with  additions.) 

Among  the  persons  who  have  read  with  interest  the  "  Essay  on 
Calcareous  Manures/'  and  have  received  as  sound  the  novel  theory 
and  doctrines  there  maintained,  several  have  expressed  their  curi- 
osity which  had  heen  excited  to  learn  the  earliest  facts,  or  the  train 
of  reasoning,  which  led  to  the  suggestion  of  the. causes  of  the  de- 
fect of  naturally  barren  soils,  and  the  remedy.  Such  inquiries 
have  been  made  of  the  writer  by  persons  of  investigating  and  well 
informed  minds,  but  of  very  different  education  and  pursuits;  and 
they  were  pleased  to  say,  in  regard  to  the  concise  verbal  answers 
made  to  their  inquiries,  that  they  deemed  the  details  likely  to  be 
interesting  to.  many,  and  that  if  given  to  the  public,  they  might 
serve  better  to  induce  the  consideration  and  enforcement  of  the 
doctrines,  than  had  been  done  by  the  mere  arguments  which  had 
been  already  published,  convincing  as  they  considered  these  argu- 
ments to  be. 

Though,  without  these  reasons  and  solicitations,  the  writer  might 
have  still  refrained  from  touching  this  subject,  it  was  not  that  he 
had  not  held  the  same  opinion,  and,  except  in  his  own  case,  would 
have  urged  the  same  course.  It  is  certain,  that  the  tracing  of  the 
steps  by  which  any  new  discovery  or  improvement  has  been  reached, 
must  always  be  interesting  in  proportion  to  the  admitted  importance 
of  the  results ;  and,  indeed,  such  a  statement  seems  almost  necessary 
to  induce  the  reader  to  accompany  the  author  from  his  first  premises 
to  the  remote  conclusion,  and  which  otherwise  is  only  reached 
through  a  devious  and  tedious  passage,  and  by  a  course  of  reason- 
ing which  is  wanting  in  interest,  because  the  application  and 
tendency  of  the  arguments  and  proofs  are  not  seen  when  they  are 
first  presented.  The  objection  which  restrained  the  writer  from 
before  pursuing  a  course  which  he  would  have  highly  approved  in 
others,  was,  that  such  a  narrative  of  opinions  and  facts  would  be 
entirely  a  personal  narrative,  and  therefore  obnoxious  to  the  charge 
of  egotism  throughout.  The  statement  of  the  reasoning  which  led 
to  the  successful  use  of  fossil  shells  on  the  poor  lands  of  lower 
Virginia,  would  be  incomplete  if  not  accompanied  by  a  narrative 
of  early  labours,  and  the  early  as  well  as  latest  results  and  effects.  - 
In  the  whole  of  this,  there  would  be  scarcely  anything  but  state- 
ments of  what  the  writer  thought,  and  reasoned,  and  performed. 
But  the  subject  must  be  so  treated,  or  not  at  all;  and  having  con- 
sented to  give  the  narrative,  the  writer  will  throw  aside  all  scruples 
and  objections,  and  endeavour  to  enter  as  much  into  detail,  as  he, 
if  a  reader  of  others'  agricultural  improvements  and  practical  ope- 
rations, would  desire  there  to  find. 

35  (409) 


410  the  author's  early  views 

"With  the  beginning  of  the  year  1813,  when  barely  nineteen  years 
of  age,  the  easy  indulgence  of  my  guardian  gave  to  me  the  posses- 
sion and  direction  of  my  property ;  which  consisted  of  the  Coggins 
Point  farm,  with  the  necessary  and  yet  very  insufficient  stock  of 
every  kind.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that,  at  my  very  early 
commencement,  I  was  totally  ignorant  of  practical  agriculture ; 
and  such  would  have  been  the  case,  according  to  the  then  and  now 
usual  want  of  training  of  farmers  of  Virginia,  even  if  my  farming 
labours  had  been  postponed  to  a  mature  age.  But  I  had  always 
been  fond  of  reading  for  amusement,  and  the  few  books  on  agri- 
culture (then  very  scarce  in  this  country)  which  I  had  met  with, 
had  been  studied,  merely  for  the  pleasure  they  afforded,  at  a  still 
earlier  time  of  my  boyhood.  The  earliest  known  of  these  works 
was  an  English  book,  in  four  volumes,  the  "  Complete  Body  of 
Husbandry,"  of  which  I  have  not  seen  the  only  known  copy  since 
I  was  fifteen  years  old.  This  work  was  probably  a  mere  compila- 
tion, and  of  little  value  or  authority ;  but  it  gave  me  a  fondness 
for  agricultural  studies,  and  filled  my  head  with  notions  which  were, 
even  if  proper  in  England,  totally  unsuitable  to  this  country. 
"  Bordley's  Husbandry"  next  fell  into  my  hands,  and  its  contents 
were  as  greedily  devoured.  This  was  indeed  written  in  America, 
and  by  an  American  cultivator;  but  as  he  drew  almost  all  his 
notions  from  English  writers,  his  work  is  essentially  also  of  foreign 
materials. 

Thus  prepared,  I  commenced  farming,  ignorant  indeed,  but  not 
in  my  own  conceit.  The  agriculture  of  my  neighbourhood,  like 
all  that  I  had  ever  witnessed,  was  wretched  in  execution,  and  as 
erroneous  as  well  could  be  in  system,  whether  subjected  to  the  test 
of  sound  doctrine,  or  the  improper  notions  which  I  had  formed  from 
English  writers.  I  was  right  in  condemning  the  general  practice 
of  my  neighbours;  but  decidedly  mistaken  in  my  self-satisfied 
estimate  of  my  own  better  information  and  plans. 

Just  about  the  time  that  my  business  as  a  cultivator  was  com- 
menced, Col.  John  Taylor's  "Arator"  was  published;  and  never 
has  any  book  on  agriculture  been  received  with  so  much  enthusiastic 
applause,  nor  has  any  other  had  such  wide-spread  early  effects  in 
affecting  opinion,  and  stimulating  to  exertion  and  attempts  for  im- 
provement. The  ground  had  before  no  occupant,  and  therefore 
this  work  had  to  contend  with  no  rival.  The  larger  land-owners, 
of  lower  Virginia  especially,  had  previously  treated  their  own  pro- 
per employment,  and  their  only  source  of  income,  with  total 
neglect;  and  very  few  country  gentlemen  took  any  personal  and 
regular  direction  of  their  farming  operations.  It  was  considered 
enough  for  them  to  hire  overseers  (and  that  class  then  was  greatly 
inferior  in  grade  and  respectability  to  what  it  is  now),  and  to  leave 
the  daily  superintendence   to   them   entirely.      The   agricultural 


AND  FARMING   ERRORS.  411 

practices,  and  also  the  products,  were  consequently,  and  almost 
universally,  at  a  very  low  ebb.  The  work  of  Taylor  appeared 
when  these  evils  had  become  manifest;  and  it  was  received  with  a 
welcome  which  in  warmth  was  proportioned  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  evil,  and  to  the  exaggeration  of  the  promises  of  speedy  and 
effectual  remedy  which  the  author  made,  with  entire  good  faith  no 
doubt,  but  which  were  proved,  by  results,  to  be  anything  but  cor- 
rect to  the  great  majority  of  his  sanguine  followers. 

Of  course,  I  was  among  the  most  enthusiastic  admirers  of  u  Ara- 
tor;"  and  not  only  received  as  sound  and  true  every  opinion  and 
precept,  but  even  went  beyond  the  author's  intention  (perhaps), 
and  applied  his  rules  for  tillage  to  lands  of  surface  and  soil  alto- 
gether different  from  the  level  and  originally  rich  sandy  soils  of  the 
llappahannock,  where  his  labours  and  system  had  been  so  success- 
ful. However,  this  error  was  by  no  means  confined  to  myself; 
for  his  other  disciples  fully  as  much  misunderstood  the  directions, 
and  misapplied  the  practices. 

It  was  my  main  object  to  enrich  my  then  very  poor  land; 
and,  for  that,  Taylor  offered  means  that  seemed  to  be  sure  and 
speedy.  According  to  his  views,  it  was  only  necessary  to  protect 
the  arable  land  from  all  grazing,  and  thus  let  the  vegetable  cover 
of  the  land,  when  resting,  serve  as  manure — to  plough  deep,  and 
in  ridges — to  convert  all  the  corn-stalks  and  other  offal  to  manure, 
and  plough  it  under,  unrotted,  for  the  corn — to  put  the  farm  under 
clover  as  fast  as  manured — and  the  desired  result*  would  be  sure. 
I  hoped  at  first  to  be  able  to  manure,  say  10  or  12  acres  a  year  very 
heavily,  with  the  barn-yard  manure,  and  expected  that  such  ma- 
nuring would  give  a  crop  of  50  bushels  of  corn  -to  the  acre.  The 
space,  so  enriched,  when  in  the  succeeding  crop  of  wheat,  would 
be  put  under  clover — and  its  acquired  productiveness  be  made 
permanent,  by  the  lenient  rotation  of  two  crops  only  taken  from 
the  land  in  four  years.  But  utter  disappointment  followed.  The 
manure  was  put  on  the  poorest  (and  naturally  poor)  laud ;  and  it 
produced  very  little  of  the  expected  effect  in  the  first  course  of 
crops,  and  was  scarcely  to  be  perceived  on  the  second.  Clover 
could  not  be  made  to  live  on  land  of  this  kind ;  and  even  on  much 
better,  or  where  more  enriched,  it  was  a  very  precarious  crop,  and 
which,  where  the  growth  was  best,  was  certain  to  yield  the  entire 
occupancy  of  the  ground  to  natural  weeds  after  one  year.  The 
general  non-grazing  of  the  fields  under  grass,  or  rather  under 
weeds,  produced  no  visible  enriching  effect,  and  the  ploughing  of 
hilly  land  (as  mine  mostly  was)  into  ridges,  caused  the  most  de- 
structive washing  away  of  the  soil  by  heavy  rains.  These  results 
were  not  speedily  made  manifest ;  and  before  being  convinced  of 
their  certainty,  I  had  laboured  for  four  or  five  years  in  using  these 
means  of  supposed  improvement  of  the  soil,  but   all  of  which 


412  FORMER   CONDITION   OF   LAND. 

proved  either  profitless,  entirely  useless,  or  absolutely  and  in  some 
eases  greatly  injurious.  And  even  after  trying  to  avoid  the  first 
known  errors,  and  using  all  other  supposed  means  for  giving  dura- 
ble and  increasing  fertility  to  my  worn  and  poor  fields,  at  the  end 
of*  six  years,  instead  of  having  already  achieved  great  improve- 
ment, I  was  compelled  to  confess  that  no  part  of  my  poor  land  was 
more  productive  than  when  my  labours  commenced,  and  that  on 
much  of  it,  a  ten-fold  increase  had  been  made  of  the  previously 
larse  space  of  galled  and  gullied  hill-sides  and  slopes. 

When  more  correct  opinions  had  been  formed  in  after-time  of  the 
actual  condition  and  requirements  of  such  poor  soils,  it  seemed  an 
astonishing  delusion,  which  would  have  been  altogether  ludicrous 
but  for  its  serious  effects,  that  I  should  have  counted  so  much  on 
improving  such  a  soil,  and  by  such  means.  "With  the  exception 
of  a  small  part  near  the  river  banks  (perhaps  one-fifth  of  the  then 
cleared  and  cultivated  land),  which  had  been  originally  of  very  fine 
quality,  and,  however  abused  and  exhausted,  was  still  good  laud, 
the  farm  generally  consisted  of  a  soil  of  sandy  loam,  usually  about 
three  inches  deep,  and  through  which  a  single-horse  plough  could 
easily  penetrate  and  turn  up  the  barren  and  more  sandy  yellow 
sub-soil.  Grazing  the  fields,  when  not  under  tillage,  had  been  the 
regular  practice ;  and  under  it  very  little  growth  was  to  be  seen 
except  the  light  and  diminutive  "  hen's  nest  grass"  (aristida  gra- 
cilis), which  formed  the  almost  universal  cover  of  the  poor  fields 
of  lower  Virginia,  in  the  intervals  between  tillage.  Add  to  these 
circumstances  of  very  poor  and  shallow  soil,  and  barren  and  sandy 
sub-soil,  and  almost  no  vegetable  cover  to  turn  under,  that  every 
field  was  more  or  less  hilly,  and  liable  to  be  washed  by  heavy  rains 
— and  the  judicious  reader  will  see  nothing  but  false  confidence 
and  ignorance  displayed  in  my  bold  adoption  of  Taylor's  system. 
Nor  was  I  convinced  of  my  error  until  after  nearly  all  the  fields 
had  been  successively  thrown  into  ridges  by  two-horse  ploughs,  and 
all  the  hilly  and  more  slightly  inclined  surface  had  been  awfully 
washed  and  gullied,  by  the  exposure  of  the  loose  sub-soil  to  the 
action  of  the  streams  of  rain-water. 

While  these  my  supposed  measures  of  improvement  were  in  pro- 
gress, I  was  in  habits  of  frequent  and  familiar  intercourse  with  my 
oldest  and  best  frieud,  and  former  guardian,  Thomas  Cocke,  who 
resided  then  on  his  Aberdeen  farm,  and  since  and  now,  on  Tarbay, 
adjoining  my  own  land.  My  friend  was  a  man  for  whose  mind  and 
mental  cultivation  I  could  not  but  entertain  a  very  high  estimation. 
But,  though  all  his  life  a  practical  and  assiduous  cultivator,  and 
finding  his  greatest  pleasure  in  his  farming  labours,  he  yet  was  a 
careless,  slovenly,  and  bad  manager,  and  of  course  an  unprofitable 
farmer.  Therefore,  on  this  subject,  I  held  in  but  light  esteem  the 
opinions  which  he  maintained,  which  were  opposed  to  my  own. 


taylor's  and  davy's  doctrines.  413 

One  of  these  (and  which  he  had  first  gathered  from  some  old  and 
ignorant,  but  experienced  practical  cultivators  of  Lis  neighbour- 
hood), was  the  opinion  that  our  land  which  was  naturally  poor 
could  not  "  hold  manure,"  to  any  extent  or  profit,  and  therefore 
could  not  be  enriched.  For  years  I  heard  this  opinion  frequently 
expressed  by  him,  and  the  evident  inference  therefrom,  that  the 
far  greater  part  of  our  lands,  and  of  the  whole  country,  was  doomed 
to  hopeless  sterility;  and  as  often  as  heard,  I  rejected  it  as  a 
monstrous  agricultural  heresy — as  treason,  indeed,  to  the  authority 
of  Taylor,  and  of  every  other  author  on  agriculture  whom  I  had 
read  or  heard  of.  But  at  last  I  was  compelled,  most  reluctantly, 
to  concur  in  this  opinion. 

What  was  then  to  be  done  ?  I  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  pur- 
suing the  general  system  of  the  country  in  continuing  to  lessen  the 
already  small  productiveness  of  my  fields,  by  their  course  of  culti- 
vation. The  whole  income,  and  more,  was  required  for  the  most 
economical  support  of  a  then  small  but  fast  growing  family ;  and 
for  any  increase  of  income  or  net  profit,  there  was  no  hope,  save 
in  the  universal  approved  resort  in  all  such  cases,  of  emigrating 
to  the  rich  western  wilderness.  And  accordingly  such  became  my 
intention,  fully  considered  and  decided  upon,  and  which  was  only 
prevented  being  carried  into  effect  by  subsequent  occurrences. 

Just  before  this  time  Davy's  "  Agricultural  Chemistry"  had  been 
first  published  in  this  country;  and  I  read  it  with  delight,  notwith- 
standing my  then  total  ignorance  of  chemical  science,  and  even  of 
chemical  names,  except  as  learned  by  that  perusal.  There  was  one 
passage  of  this  author  which  seemed  to  afford  both  light  and  hope 
on  the  point  in  which  disappointment  had  led  me  to  despair.  As 
an  illustration  of  defects  in  the  chemical  constitution  of  soils,  and 
of  the  remedies  which  proper  investigation  might  point  out,  he 
adduced  the  fact  of  a  soil  "  of  good  apparent  texture,"  which  was 
sterile,  and  seemed  incapable  of  being  enriched.  The  fact  which 
struck  so  forcibly  on  my  mind  was  presented  in  the  following  con- 
cise passage  of  Lect.  iv.  "  If  on  washing  [for  analyzing]  a  sterile 
soil,  it  is  found  to  contain  the  salt  of  iron,  or  any  acid  matter,  it 
may  be  ameliorated  by  the  application  of  quick-lime.  A  soil  of 
good  apparent  texture  from  Lincolnshire,  was  put  into  my  hands 
by  Sir  Joseph  Banks  as  remarkable  for  sterility.  On  examining 
it,  I  found  that  it  contained  sulphate  of  iron ;  and  I  offered  the 
obvious  remedy  of  top-dressing  with  lime,  which  converts  the  sul- 
phate into  a  manure." 

Much  the  greater  part  of  my  land,  and  of  all  the  land  of  lower 
Virginia,  seemed  to  me  just  such  as  Davy  described  in  this  single 
and  peculiar  soil.  It  was  certainly  of  "  good  apparent  texture," 
that  is,  it  was  neither  much  too  clayey  or  too  sandy,  nor  had  it  any 
other  apparent  defect  to  forbid  its  being  fertile  in  a  very  high 
35* 


414  SALTS   OP  IRON   IN   SOIL. 

degree.  Yet  it  was  and  always  bad  been  sterile,  and,  as  my  ex- 
perience now  concurred  with  that  of  my  older  friend  in  showing,  it 
could  not  be  either  durably  or  profitably  enriched  by  putrescent 
manures.  Could  it  be  possible  that  the  sulphate  of  iron  (copperas) 
which  Davy  found  in  this  soil,  and  which  he  evidently  spoke  of  as 
a  rare  example  of  peculiar  constitution,  could  exist  in  nineteen* 
twentieths  of  all  the  lauds  of  lower  Virginia  ?  This  could  scarcely 
be ;  and  yet,  in  despair  of  finding  other  causes,  I  set  about  search- 
ing for  this  one. 

It  was  not  difficult,  even  for  a  reader  so  little  instructed  in 
chemistry,  to  apply  the  test  for  copperas.     It  was  only  necessary 
to  let  a  specimen  of  the  suspected  soil  remain  soaking  in  pure 
water,  until  any  copperas,  if  present,  would  be  dissolved ;  then  to 
separate  the  fluid  by  pouring  off  and  filtration,  and  4hen  to  add  to 
the  fluid  some  of  the  infusion  of  nut-galls.     If  copperas  had  been 
held  in  solution,  the  mixture  would  produce  a  true  ink,  of  which 
the  smallest  proportion  would  be  made  visible  in  the  before  per- 
fectly transparent  water.     But  all  these  first  attempts  were  fruit- 
less, and  I  was  obliged  to  conclude  that  the  great  defect,  or  impedi- 
ment to  improvement,  in  most  of  our  soils,  was  not  the  presence 
of  the  salts  of  iron.     But  though  not  a  salt,  of  which  one  of  the 
component  parts  was  an  acid,  might  not  the  poisonous  quality  be  a 
pure  or  uncombined  acid?     This  question  was  raised  in  my  mind, 
and  the  readiness  produced  to  suppose  the  affirmative  to  be  true,  by 
several  circumstances.    These  were,  1st.  That  certain  plants  known 
to  contain  acid,  as  sheep-sorrel  and  pine,  preferred  these  soils,  and 
indeed  were  almost  confined  to  them,  and  grew  there  with  luxuri- 
ance and  vigour  proportioned  to  the  unfitness  of  the  land  for  pro- 
ducing cultivated  crops.     2d.  That  of  all  the  soils  supposed  to  be 
acid  which  I  examined  by  chemical  tests,  not  one  contained  any 
calcareous  earth.*     3d.  That  the  small  proportion  of  my  land,  and 
of  all  within  the  range  of  my  observation,  which  was  slielly,  and  of 
course  calcareous,  was  entirely  free  from  pine  and  sorrel,  and  more- 
over was  as  remarkable  for  great  and  lasting  fertility,  as  the  lands 
supposed  to  be  acid  for  the  reverse  qualities.       Shells,  or  lime, 
would  necessarily  combine  with,  and  destroy,  all  the  previous  pro- 
perties of  any  acid  placed  in  contact;  and  therefore,  if  acid  were 
present  universally,  and  acting  as  a  poison  to  cultivated  plants,  it 
seemed  plain  enough  why  the  shelly  lands  were  free  from  this  bad 

*  I  was  not  then  aware  of  the  important  and  novel  fact  which  I  after- 
wards ascertained  and  established,  and  which  is  now  fully  received  (with 
very  slight  acknowledgment  of  its  source)  by  the  geologists  of  this  country, 
that  almost  all  the  soils  on  the  Atlantic  slope  of  this  country,  and  even  including 
nearly  all  limestone  soils,  are  also  entirely  destitute  of  carbonate  of  lime, 
though  that  ingredient  seems  nearly  if  not  quite  universal  in  all  the  best 
Boils  of  England  and  the  continent  of  Europe. 


SUPPOSITION   OF   ACID   IN   SOIL.  415 

quality,  and  by  its  absence  had. been  permitted  to  grow  ricb,  and  to 
continue  productive.  Every  new  observation  served  to  add  strength 
to  this  notion;  and  in  our  tide-water  region  generally,  and  even  in 
my  own  neighbourhood,  there  were  jjlenty  of  subjects  for  observa- 
tion and  comparison,  both  in  small  shelly  and  fertile  spots,  and  a 
vast  extent  of  poor  pine  and  sorrel-producing  lands.  Still,  I  could 
obtain  no  direct  evidence  of  the  presence  of  acid,  either  free  or 
combined,  by  applying  chemical  tests  to  soils  (as  was  tried  in  many 
cases),  nor  was  there  any  authority  in  my  oracle,  Davy's  "  Agri- 
cultural Chemistry,"  nor  in  any  other  work  which  I  had  read,  for 
supposing  vegetable  acid  to  be  present  in  any  soil.  Though  Davy 
adds  to  the  supposition  of  the  presence  of  the  "salt  of  iron/'  "or 
any  acid  matter,"  it  is  clear  from  the  whole  context  that  he  had  in 
view  the  possible  and  extremely  rare  presence  of  a  mineral  acid  (as 
the  sulphuric),  and  not  vegetable  acid,  which  my  views  required, 
and  my  proofs  were  afterwards  brought  to  maintain.  Sulphuric 
acid  is  sometimes  found  in  certain  clays,  and  in  combination  with 
iron  is  also  in  peat  soils ;  but  these  facts  have  no  application  to 
ordinary  soils  of  any  country.  Of  course,  this  absence  of  authority 
would,  to  most  inquirers,  have  seemed  fatal  to  the  position  of  an 
acid  principle  being  generally  present  in  the  soils  of  Virginia,  and 
in  great  quantity  and  power  of  injurious  action.  This  was,  indeed,  a 
great  obstacle  opposed  to  the  establishment  of  my  newly  formed 
opinion ;  but  it  was  not  yielded  to  as  insuperable.  Diffident  as  I 
then  was  of  any  such  views  of  my  own,  and  holding  the  dicta  of 
Davy  as  the  highest  authority,  and  even  his  omission  of  any  posi- 
tion as  evidence  that  it  was  untrue,  or  unknown,  still  I  was  not 
daunted,  and  supposed  it  possible  that  the-  soils  of  this  country 
might  vary  essentially  in  composition,  in  this  respect,  from  those 
of  England;  or  bardy  possible  that  even  the  great  chemical  philo- 
sopher might  not  have  observed  the  presence  of  vegetable  acid  in 
the  comparatively  few  cases  of  its  existence  in  English  soils.  The 
later  observations  of  subsequent  years  added  much  to  my  evidences 
of  the  existence  of  acid  in  soils ;  and  still  later  and  scientific  inves- 
tigations of  chemists  have  served  to  establish  that  there  is  an  acid 
principle  in  most  soils,  in  the  humic  or  geic  acid.  But  these  dis- 
coveries of  chemists  had  not  been  published  in  1817  (if  indeed 
known  to  any),  nor  had  my  own  observations  reached  to  all  the 
proofs  which  I  afterwards  (in  1832)  published  in  the  first  edition 
(in  book  form)  of  the  "  Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures,"  and  which 
were  still  in  advance  of  the  publication  of  the  now  generally  re- 
ceived opinions  of  the  geic  or  humic  acid.  It  must  therefore  be 
confessed,  that  if  I  reached  a  correct  conclusion,  it  was  not  on  suf- 
ficiently established  premises,  and  known  chemical  facts.  However, 
reached  it  was,  whether  by  right  or  by  wrong  reasoning;  and  how- 
ever little  supported  by  direct  proof  or  authority,  I  was  almost  sure, 


416  FIRST   EFFORT   TO   MARL. 

in  advance  of  any  known  experiment,  first,  that  the  cause  of  the 
unproductiveness  and  unfitness  for  being  enriched  of  most  of  our 
lands,  was  the  presence  of  acid — and  secondly,  and  consequently, 
that  the  application  of  lime,  or  calcareous  earth,  would,  by  taking 
up  and  destroying  the  poisonous  principle,  leave  the  soil  free  to  re- 
ceive and  to  profit  by  enriching  manures. 

But  even  if  this  theoretical  position  had  been  demonstrated,  still 
it  might  fiu'nish  no  profitable  practical  remedy.  For,  admitting 
that  the  application  of  calcareous  matters  would  relieve  the  soil  of 
its  great  evil,  and  make  it  capable  of  receiving  subsequent  improve- 
ment, yet  after  being  so  relieved,  the  land,  I  supposed,  would  be 
still  as  poor  as  before,  and  would  require  all  the  manure,  labour, 
and  time,  necessary  to  enrich  any  very  poor  soil;  and  these  might 
be  so  expensive,  that  the  improvement  of  the  land  would  cost  more 
than  it  would  afterwards  be  worth.  These  considerations  served 
to  lessen  my  estimation  of  the  practical  utility  of  the  theoretical 
truth,  and  to  make  my  earliest  applications  of  the  theory  to  practice 
hesitating,  and  very  limited  in  extent. 

Having  settled  that  calcareous  matter  was  the  medicine  to  be 
applied  to  the  diseased  or  ill  constituted  soil,  I  was  luckily  at  no 
loss  to  find  the  materials.  In  some  of  the  many  ravines  which 
passed  through  my  land,  and  on  sundry  parts  of  the  river  bank, 
were  exposed  some  portions  of  the  beds  of  fossil  shells  which  un- 
derlie nearly  all  the  eastern  parts  of  Virginia  and  -  several  other 
southern  states ;  the  deposit  which  then  had  obtained  in  this  region, 
though  improperly,  and  still  retains  the  name  of  marl.  I  began 
operations  in  February,  1818,  at  one  of  the  spots  most  accessible 
to  a  cart.  The  overlying  earth  was  thrown  off,  and  a  few  feet  in 
width  of  the  marl  exposed,  in  which  a  pit  was  sunk  to  the  depth 
of  but  three  or  four  feet.  When  night  stopped  the  very  slow  dig- 
ging and  throwing  out  of  the  marl,  the  slowly  oozing  water  filled 
the  pit ;  and  as  no  proper  plan  of  draining  had  been  adopted,  the 
first  shallow  pit  was  abandoned,  and  another  opened.  In  this  labo- 
rious and  wasteful  manner  there  was  as  much  marl  obtained  as  I 
was  then  willing  to  apply.  It  served  to  give  a  covering  of  125  to 
200  bushels  per  acre,  to  2}  acres  of  new  ground.  The  wood  on 
the  land  had  been  cut  down  three  years  before,  and  suffered  to  lie 
and  rot  until  cleared  up  for  cultivation  in  1818.  Though  poor 
ridge  land,  and  of  what  I  deemed  of  the  most  acid  class  of  soils, 
still  the  previous  treatment  had  given  to  it  so  much  decomposed 
vegetable  matter,  that  its  product  would  necessarily  be  made  the 
best  which  such  a  soil  was  capable  of  bringing.  And  because  of 
the  superabundance  of  food  for  plants  then  ready  to  act,  this  was 
not  a  good  subject  to  show  the  earliest  and  greatest  benefit  of  neu- 
tralizing the  acid.  However,  notwithstanding  this  circumstance, 
and  the  small  amount  and  poverty  of  the  marl  (which  contained 


FIRST   RESULTS   OP   MARLING.  417 

but  one-third  of  calcareous  matter),  the  improvement  produced  was 
greater  and  more  speedy  in  showing  than  I  had  dared  to  hope  for. 
When  the  plants  were  but  a  few  inches  high,  and  before  I  had  ex- 
pected to  see  the  slightest  improvement  (indeed  none  had  been 
expected  to  show  in  the  first  year),  the  superiority  of  the  marled 
corn  was  manifest,  and  which  continued  to  increase  as  the  growth 
advanced.  My  high  gratification  can  only  be  appreciated  by  a 
schemer  and  projector;  but  such  a  one  can  well  imagine  my  feel- 
ings and  sympathize  in  my  triumph.  The  increase  of  the  first 
crop,  corn,  I  stated  by  guess,  in  reporting  the  experiment,  to  be 
fully  40  per  cent.,  and  that  of  the  wheat  which  succeeded  was 
much  greater.  Later  measurements  of  other  products  of  experi- 
ments have  induced  me  to  believe  that  I  had  underrated  the 
amount  of  increase  in  this  first  application.  [This  experiment  is 
the  first  stated,  and  at  length,  at  page  117  of  "  Essay  on  Calcareous 
Manures,"  5th  edition.  Throughout  this  republished  article,  the 
references  to  the  pages  of  the  "Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures," 
will  be  changed  from  the  previous  to  the  present  edition.] 

Great  as  had  been  the  labour  of  this  application,  and  small  as 
its  increased  product  (comparing  both  with  later  operations),  the 
results  served  completely  to  sustain  my  theoretical  views,  and  also 
showed  the  remedy  for  the  general  evil  to  be  far  more  quick,  and 
more  profitable,  than  I  had  counted  on.  Another  person  would 
probably  have  despised  this  small  increase  to  the  acre,  if  supposing 
the  effect  to  be  but  temporary;  and  this  all  would  have  inferred, 
whether  judging  by  comparison  with  all  other  manures  known  in 
practice,  or  even  if  by  the  authority  of  books.  For  the  best  in- 
formed of  the  old  writers  (even  Lord  Kames,  for  example),  while 
claiming  for  the  effects  of  marl  great  durability,  still  consider  that 
at  some  period,  say  twenty  or  a  hundred  years,  the  effects  are  to 
cease.  But  my  views  were  not  limited  within  any  practical  expe- 
rience, or  authority,  but  by  my  own  theory  of  the  action ;  and 
that  theory  taught  me  to  infer  that  the  benefit  gained  would  never 
be  lost,  and  that  under  proper  cultivation,  the  increase  of  product 
would  still  more  increase,  instead  of  being  lessened  in  the  course 
of  time.  In  thus  fully  confiding  in  the  permanency  of  the  im- 
provement, I  was  at  once  convinced  of  the  operation  being  both 
cheap  and  profitable.  All  doubt  and  hesitation  were  thrown  aside, 
and  I  determined  to  increase  my  labours  in  marling  to  the  utmost 
extent  of  my  views.  Still  the  want  of  spare  labour,  and  the  esta- 
blished routine  of  farm  operations  which  occupied  all  the  force, 
retarded  my  operations  so  much,  that  no  more  than  twelve  more 
acres  (for  the  next  year's  crop)  were  marled  in  that  year  (1818). 

It  forms  an  essential  part  of  the  character  of  an  enthusiastic  and 
successful  projector,  and  especially  an  agricultural  projector,  to  be 
as  anxious  to  inform  others  as  to  profit  himself.     Of  course  I  tried 


418  EARLIEST   OPINIONS   OF   SOILS. 

to  bestow  upon  and  share  my  lights  with  all  my  neighbours  and 
other  farmers  whom  my  then  humble  position  and  secluded  life 
permitted  me  to  meet.  This  disposition  also  caused  my  earliest 
attempt  at  writing  for  even  so  small  a  portion  of  the  public  as  con- 
stituted a  little  agricultural  society  of  which  I  had  induced  the 
establishment  in  my  neighbourhood.  To  show  my  earliest  opinions 
and  statements  on  this  subject,  I  will  here  quote  the  material  part 
of  a  communication  made  to  that  society,  and  which  was  written 
in  October  of  the  year  of  my  first  experiment  in  1818.  I  copy 
the  extract  just  as  it  then  stood,  and  with  all  its  defects  of  form 
and  of  substance.  I  then  shrunk  in  fear  from  the  greater  publicity 
which  the  press  would  have  afforded,  and  had  not  the  remotest 
anticipation  tbat  my  first  effort,  then  made,  would  lead  me  to  the 
exteuded  intercourse  since  established  and  maintained  with  the 
public,  both  by  writing  and  printing. 

*  *  *  *  u  Y^'g  should  be  induced  to  infer  from  the  remarks  of 
those  writers  who  have  treated  on  the  improvement  of  land,  that  a 
soil  artificially  enriched  is  equally  valuable  with  one  which  would 
produce  the  same  amount  of  crop  from  its  natural  fertility ;  and 
that  a  soil  originally  good,  but  impoverished  by  injudicious  cultiva- 
tion, is  no  better  than  if  it  never  had  been  rich.  If  this  conclusion 
be  just  (and  the  contrary  has  not  been  even  hinted  by  them),  it  is 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  opinion  of  many  intelligent  practical 
farmers,  with  whom  my  own  observations  concur,  in  pronounciug 
that  soils  naturally  rich  (although  completely  worn  out),  will  sooner 
recover  by  rest — can  be  enriched  with  less  manure — and  will  longer 
resist  the  effects  of  the  severest  course  of  cropping,  than  soils  of  as 
good  apparent  texture  and  constitution,  and  in  similar  situations, 
but  poor  before  they  were  brought  into  cultivation.  Should  the 
latter  opinion  be  correct,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
subject  should  be  investigated;  as  the  only  conclusion  that  can  be 
drawn  from  it  is,  that  such  land  must  have  some  secret  defect  in  its 
constitution,  some  principle  adverse  to  improvement ;  and  until  this 
is  discovered  and  corrected,  it  is  an  almost  Jiopeless  undertaking  to 
make  a  barren  country  permanently  fertile,  by  means  of  animal  and 
vegetable  manure. 

"  That  enclosing*  has  but  little  effect  in  improving  land  naturally 
barren,  is  sufficiently  proved  by  poor  wood-land.  This  ha3  had  the 
benefit  of  enclosing  for  perhaps  thousands  of  years,  and  is  yet 
miserably  poor.  It  may  be  said  that  leaves  are  not  to  be  compared 
in  value  to  grass  or  weeds ;  but  surely  leaves  ought  to  improve  as 
much  in  a  thousand  years,  as  grass  or  weeds  in  twenty.  Besides, 
it  is  well  known,  that  leaves  taken  from  this  very  land,  and  applied 
elsewhere,  have  produced  much  benefit;  and  the  advocates  of  en- 

*  The  non-grazing  system,  or  manuring  land  by  its  own  growth. 


EARLIEST   OPINIONS   OF   SOILS.  419 

closing  must  agree  with  me  in  ascribing  to  this  cause  the  natural 
fertility  of  the  most  valuable  [wood]  land. 

"As  to  manuring,  there  arc  but  few  farmers  who  have  not,  like 
me,  experienced  complete  disappointment  in  ondeavouring  to  im- 
prove land  so  little  favoured  by  nature.  In  the  usual  method  of 
summer  manuring,  by  movable  cow-pens,  the  most  negligent  far- 
mers give  the  heaviest  covering,  by  suffering  their  pens  to  remain 
stationary  sometimes  six  or  eight  weeks.  I  have  known  the  surface 
in  this  manner  to  be  covered  an  inch  thick  with  the  richest  of  ma- 
nures, and  yet,  after  going  through  the  same  course  of  crops  and 
grazing  with  the  adjoining  unmanured  land  for  six  years,  it  could 
not  be  distinguished.         *  ****** 

"  If  any  one  principle  should  be  always  found  in  one  kind  of 
soil,  and  as  invariably  absent  in  the  other,  we  might  reasonably  infer 
that  that  was  the  cause  of  fertility  or  barrenness.  Judging  from 
my  very  limited  observations,  it  appears  evident  that  calcareous 
earth  constitutes  a  part  of  every  soil  rich  in  its  natural  state,  and 
that  whenever  a  soil  is  entirely  or  nearly  deficient,  it  never  can  be- 
come rich  of  itself,  and  if  made  so  by  heavy  doses  of  dung,  will 
soon  relapse  into  its  former  sterility. 

"  Let  us  observe  how  facts  coincide  with  this  opinion.  The  lower 
part  of  Virginia  is  generally  poor ;  narrow  stripes  along  the  rivers 
and  smaller  watercourses  are  nearly  all  the  high  lands  that  are 
valuable,  and  in  this  class,  exclusively,  shells  are  seen  so  frequently, 
and  in  such  abundance,  that  it  seems  highly  probable  that  they  are 
universally  present,  but  so  finely  divided  as  not  to  be  visible. 
When  we  know  the  change  produced  by  calcareous  earth  in  the 
colour  and  texture  of  soil,  and  in  a  field  of  an  hundred  acres,  all  of 
the  same  dark-coloured  mellow  soil,  shells  may  be  seen  in  only  a 
few  detached  spots,  we  cannot  but  attribute  the  same  effects  to 
the  same  cause,  and  allow  calcareous  matter  to  be  present  in  every 
part. 

"  The  durable  fertility  of  land  which  contains  shells  in  abundance 
is  so  wonderful,  that  I  should  not  dare  to  describe  it,  were  not  the 
facts  supported  by  the  best  authority.  The  calcareous  matter  for 
ages  has  been  collecting  and  fixing  in  the  soil  such  an  immense 
supply  of  vegetable  matter,  that  near  two  centuries  of  almost  con- 
tinual exhaustion  have  not  materially  injured  its  value.  I  have 
seen  fields  on  York,  James,  and  Nansemond  rivers,  now  extremely 
productive,  which  are  said  to  have  been  under  cultivation  for  thirty 
and  forty  years,  without  any  aid  worthy  mentioning,  from  rest  or 
manure. 

"  The  same  cause  operates  on  low  lands,  formed  by  alluvion,  and 
situated  on  streams  accustomed  to  overflow.  Such  land  is,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  of  the  first  quality;  and  it  is  made  so  by  the 
calcareous  matter  which  the  currents  must  necessarily  convey  from 


420  EARLIEST   OPINION'S   OP   SOILS. 

the  strata  of  marl  through  which  they  pass;  and  which  being  in- 
timately mixed  with  sand,  clay,  and  vegetable  matter,  is  sufficient 
to  form  the  finest  and  deepest  soil.  All  the  rich  low  grounds 
which  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  observing,  have  marl  on  some 
of  tho  streams  which  fall  into  them,  and  I  have  not  heard  of  any 
on  those  few  which  are  poor.  Not  a  solitary  instance  of  shells 
being  found  in  poor  land  of  any  description  has  come  to  my 
knowledge. 

"  If  these  premises  are  correct,  no  other  conclusion  can  be  drawn 
from  them  but  that  a  proportion  of  calcareous  earth  gives  to  soil  a 
capacity  for  improvement  which  it  has  not  without;  and  it  also 
follows,  that  by  an  application  of  shell  marl,  the  worst  land  would 
be  enabled  to  digest  and  retain  that  food,  which  has  hitherto  been 
of  little  or  no  advantage.  *  *         *  * 

"  The  property  of  fixing  manures  is  not  more  important  in  marl, 
than  that  of  destroying  acids.  The  unproductiveness  of  our  lands 
arises  not  so  much  from  the  absence  of  food  as  the  presence  of 
poison.  We  are  so  much  accustomed  to  see  a  luxuriant  and  rapid 
growth  of  pines  cover  land  on  which  no  crop  can  thrive,  that  we 
cannot  readily  see  the  impropriety  of  calling  such  a  soil  absolutely 
barren. 

"  From  the  circumstance  of  this  soil  being  so  congenial  to  the 
growth  of  pine  and  sorrel  (both  of  which  are  acid  plants),  it  seems 
probable  that  it  abounds  in  acidity,  or  acid  combinations,  which 
(although  destructive  to  all  valuable  crops)  are  their  food  while 
living,  and  product  when  dead.  The  most  common  forest  trees  are 
furnishing  the  earth  with  poison  as  liberally  as  food,  while  it  depends 
entirely  on  the  presence  of  the  antidote,  whether  one  or  the  other 
takes  effect.  I  have  observed  a  very  luxuriant  growth  of  sorrel  on 
land  too  poor  to  support  vegetables  of  any  kind,  from  green  pine 
brush  having  been  buried  to  stop  gullies ;  and  it  is  well  known  how 
much  land  on  which  pines  have  rotted  is  infested  with  this  perni- 
cious plant.  Marl  will  immediately  neutralize  the  acid,  and  this 
noxious  principle  being  removed,  the  land  will  then  for  the  first 
time  yield  according  to  its  actual  capacity.  Sorrel  will  no  longer 
be  troublesome;  and,  by  a  very  heavy  covering,  I  have  known  a 
spot  rendered  incapable  of  producing  it,  although  the  adjoining 
land  was  thickly  set  to  the  edge.  Pines  do  not  thrive  on  shelly 
land,  whether  fertile  or  exhausted.  To  this  cause  I  attribute  the 
great  and  immediate  benefit  I  derived  from  marl  on  new  ground. 
The  acid  produced  by  the  pine  leaves  is  destroyed,  and  the  soil  13 
capable  of  supporting  much  heavier  crops,  without  being  (as  yet) 
at  all  richer  than  it  was/'  ******* 
—  Communication  to  Prince  George  Agricultural  Society,  1818. 

Before  proceeding  to  state  later  experiments,  and  general  prac- 


MISTAKEN   IDEAS   OF   MA  III"..  421 

ticc  and  results,  it  will  be  necessary  to  recur  to  some  other  con- 
nected branches  of  the  subject.  The  reader  will  pardon  the  apparent 
digression. 

So  well  established  and  general  has  the  opinion  now  become  that 
this  marl  is  a  manure,  and  a  most  valuable  one,  that  it  may  seem 
strange  that  I  should  have  only  arrived  at  such  an  opinion  indirectly, 
by  the  train  of  reasoning  indicated  above.  There  were  hundreds  of 
persons  who  afterwards  said,  "  Oh  !  /  never  doubted  that  marl  was 
a  good  manure  j"  but  not  one  of  whom  had  been  induced  before  me 
to  try  its  operation.  But  passing  by  these  postponing  believers, 
and  all  others  who  confessedly  never  attached  any  value  to  this 
great  deposit,  it  may  require  explanation  why  I  had  not  learned  its 
value  from  English  works  which  treat  so  extensively  on  marl,  even 
though  I  had  then  had  access  to  but  few  of  them.  It  was  precisely 
because  I  had  read  attentively  some  of  the  English  accounts  of 
marl  that  I  was  deterred  from  using  our  marl,  which  agreed  with 
it  (apparently)  in  nothing  but  name.  Struck  with  the  importance 
attached  to  marl  in  England,  I  had  earnestly  desired  to  find  it,  and 
had  searched  for  it  in  vain,  years  before  the  early  beginning  of  my 
farming.  The  name  induced  a  close  examination  of  what  was 
called  marl  here;  but  the  "  soapy  feel,"  the  absence  of  grit,  the 
crumbling  and  melting  of  lumps  in  water,  &c,  which  were  the  most 
distinguishing  characteristics  of  the  marl  of  the  English  writers, 
were  in  vain  looked  for  in  our  shell  beds — of  which  the  earth  was 
generally  sandy,  never  "  soapy,"  and  of  which  the  lumps  were  often 
of  almost  stony  hardness,  and  if  not,  at  least  showed  nothing  of  the 
melting  disposition  of  the  English  marls.  I  had  before  this  found, 
however,  in  the  American  edition  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Encyclopae- 
dia," more  modern  and  correct  views  of  marl,  and  had  thereby 
learned  to  prize  calcareous  matter  in  general  as  an  ingredient  of 
soil,  whether  natural  or  artificial.  But  even  admitting  that  the 
shelly  portion  of  our  marl  would  slowly  decompose,  and  gradually 
furnish  some  manure  to  the  soil,  still  it  seemed  that  there  was  little 
prospect  of  its  operating  as  the  English  marl,  of  such  very  different 
texture  and  qualities.  I  then  supposed  that  the  shells  which  had 
resisted  decomposition,  even  where  exposed  on  the  surface  of  the 
beds,  for  centuries,  would  be  as  slow  to  dissolve,  and  to  act  as  ma- 
nure, if  laid  upon  the  fields.  Still,  notwithstanding  these  grounds 
of  objection,  the  general  idea  of  the  value  of  calcareous  manures 
would  have  induced  me  earlier  to  try  fossil  shells,  but  for  being 
deterred  therefrom  by  the  only  actual  facts  then  known  of  the  use. 
When  speaking  of  my  thought  of  trying  marl  to  my  friend  Mr. 
Thomas  Cocke,  he  told  me  that  it  was  not  worth  the  trouble ;  that 
he  (attracted  merely  by  the  name  of  "marl"),  had  made  several 
small  applications,  in  1803,  on  soils  of  different  kinds,  and  that  he 
had  found  almost  no  visible  benefit ;  and  he  had  attached  so  little 
36 


422  "ruffin's  folly." 

importance  to  the  trial,  that  he  had  never  thought  to  mention  it  to 
me,  until  induced  by  my  remark.  This  communication  was  enough 
to  check  my  then  slight  disposition  to  try  marl.  The  old  experi- 
ments of  Mr.  Cocke,  as  well  as  some  much  older,  heard  of  after- 
wards, and,  like  his,  considered  worthless  by  the  makers  and  almost 
forgotten,  are  stated  at  page  115  of  this  edition  of  the  "Essay  on 
Calcareous  Manures."  # 

As  soon  as  I  was  satisfied  that  I  had  found  in  marl  a  remedy  for 
the  general  and  fixed  disease  of  our  poor  lands,  it  became  very 
desirable  to  know  the  strength  of  different  beds,  and  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  same  bed.  The  rules  of  Davy  for  determining  the  pro- 
portion of  carbonate  of  lime  were  easy  to  apply ;  and  having  pro- 
vided myself  with  the  necessary  tests  and  other  means,  I  was  soon 
enabled  to  analyze  the  specimens  with  ease  and  accuracy.  This 
was  a  delightful  and  profitable  direction  of  my  very  small  amount 
of  chemical  acquirements,  and  served  to  stimulate  to  further  study. 
The  amount  of  my  knowledge  was  indeed  very  small — and  is  still 
so,  with  all  later  acquirements  added.  But  little  as  I  had  been 
enabled  to  learn  of  chemistry,  the  possession  led  me  to  adopt  my 
views  of  the  constitution  of  soils,  and  enabled  me  to  double  the 
product,  and  to  much  more  than  double  the  clear  profit  and  pecu- 
niary value  of  my  land,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  thereafter. 

Though  my  own  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  and  profit  of  marling 
had  been  removed  by  my  first  experiments,  it  was  not  so  with  my 
neighbours.  Induced  by  my  example,  small  applications  were  in- 
deed made  by  two  of  them  only,  in  the  next  year  after  my  first  trial. 
But  either  because  the  land  had  been  kept  too  much  exhausted  of 
its  vegetable  matter  by  grazing  as  well  as  by  cropping,  or  because 
the  experimenters  could  not  think  of  the  operation  of  the  manure 
as  different  from  that  of  dung,  or  stable  manure,  or  for  both  these 
reasons,  it  is  certain  that  they  were  not  encouraged  by  the  results 
to  persevere.  They  stopped  marling  with  their  first  trial,  until 
several  years  after,  when  both  recommenced,  then  fully  convinced 
of  the  benefit  by  my  results,  and  were  afterwards  among  the  largest 
and  most  successful  early  marlers.  One  of  these  persons  was  the 
late  Edward  Marks,  of  Old  Town,  and  the  other  my  old  friend 
Thomas  Cocke — who,  though  he  had  led  me  to  find  out  the  disease, 
could  not  himself  be  speedily  convinced  of  its  true  nature,  or  of  the 
value  of  the  remedy.  As  late  indeed  as  1822,  when  he  walked 
with  me  to  an  enormous  excavation  which  I  was  then  making  in 
uncovering  and  carrying  out  marl,  he  said  to  me,  "  In  future  time, 
if  marling  shall  then  have  been  abandoned  as  unprofitable,  this 
place  will  probably  be  known  by  the  name  of  '  RufBn's  Folly.'" 
For  some  years,  my  marling  was  a  subject  for  ridicule  with  some 
of  my  neighbours;  and  this  was  renewed,  when  in  after-time  the 


FIRST   EFFECTS   AS   EXAMPLE.  423 

great  damage  caused  by  improper  applications  began  to  be  seen,  and 
which  will  be  described  in  due  order. 

Having  had  in  view  from  the  beginning  tbe  true  action  of  marl, 
and  fully  believing  that  its  good  effects  would  be  permanent,  and 
even  increasing  with  time  under  a  proper  system  of  tillage,  I  was 
no  more  discouraged  by  what  some  deemed  small  profits,  than  I 
was  annoyed  by  the  incredulity  and  ridicule  of  other  persons.     Al- 
most all  the  farms  in  the  neighbourhood,  except  mine,  were  re- 
gularly and  closely  grazed  when  not  under  a  crop,  and  of  course 
they  had  not  stored  up  in  the  soil  much  either  of  inert  vegetable 
matter,  or  its  acid  product.     Mine  had  not  been  grazed  since  1814, 
and  had  been  rested  two  years  in  every  four ;  and  the  poorest  land 
three  years  in  four.     And  though,  in  truth,  no  increased  production 
had  been  obtained  by  this  lenient  treatment,  inasmuch  as  the  in- 
crease of  acid  counterbalanced  the  increase  of  vegetable  food,  still, 
when  marl  was  applied,  the  acid  was  immediately  destroyed,  and 
the  food  left  free  to  act.     The  effect  of  marling  was  generally  shown 
most  plainly  on  the  first  crop  of  corn,  and  the  limits  could  be  easily 
traced  by  the  deep  green  colour  of  the  plants  before  they  were  five 
inches  high ;  and  the  increased  product  of  the  first  crop  on  acid 
soils  rarely  fell  under  50  per  cent.,  was  most  generally  100,  and 
has  been  known  to  be  200  per  cent.     But  even  such  increase  was 
not  satisfactory  to  many  persons,  until  the  action  of  marl  came  to 
be  better  understood,  and  the  permanency  of  the  effects  was  credited. 
In  five  or  six  years  after  my  commencement,  there  were  few  if  any 
of  those  of  my  neighbours,  who  had  marl  visible  on  their  lands, 
,  who  had  not  begun  to  apply  it.     And  though  it  has  been  injudi- 
ciously as  well  as  insufficiently  applied  since,  and  not  one-fourth 
of  the  full  benefit  obtained,  still  the  general  improvement  and  in- 
creased products  of  the  marl  farms  of  Prince  George  have  been 
very  great.     The  existence  of  marl,  too,  which  was  known  at  first 
but  on  a  few  farms  in  my  own  neighbourhood,  has  been  since  dis- 
covered in  many  other  and  remote  parts  of  the  county ;  and  wher- 
ever accessible  it  is  valued  and  used.    The  like  observations  will  now 
apply  to  most  of  the  other  counties  of  lower  Virginia.     Wherever 
the  effects  of  marling  could  be  seen  for  a  few  years,  the  early  in- 
credulity not  only  disappeared,  but  most  persons  were  even  too 
ready  to  believe  in  marl's  possessing  virtues  to  which  it  has  no  claim. 
Thus,  ignorant  or  careless  of  its  true  mode  of  operation,  they  crop 
the  marled  lands  more  severely  than  before ;  and  if  they  are  not 
thereby  soon  reduced  as  low  as  their  former  state  of  sterility,  they 
are  made  to  approach  it  as  nearly  as  possible,  and  at  a  sacrifice  of 
nine-tenths  of  the  profit  from  marling  which  a  more  lenient  and 
judicious  system  of  cultivation  would  have  insured. 

In  1819,  the  second  year  of  my  operations,  my  marling  was  in- 
creased to  62  acres,  but  most  of  it  at  much  too  thin  a  rate.     In 


424  CONTINUED   MARLUSG    LABOUftSt 

1820,  only  25  acres  were  covered,  though  at  GOO  bushels  or  even  more 
to  the  acre.  Up  to  this  time  I  had  done  as  most  other  persons  have, 
that  is,  attempted  to  marl  "  at  leisure  times,"  and  without  making 
it  a  regular  employment  for  a  certain  additional  force,  or  reducing 
the  amount  of  cultivation,  or  of  other  operations  on  the  farm.  Mo 
person  will  ever  marl  to  much  advantage  who  does  not  avoid  this 
error;  and  this  year's  labours  showed  the  necessity  of  an  alteration. 
The  next  year,  two  horses  and  carts,  with  the  necessary  drivers  and 
pit-men,  were  appropriated  to  marling  at  all  times  when  weather 
permitted,  except  during  harvest,  thrashing,  and  wheat-sowing 
times.  Viewing  marling  too  as  the  most  profitable  operation,  ex- 
cept the  saving  of  a  crop  already  made,  it  was  made  a  fixed  rule  of 
the  farm  that  marling  was  to  be  interrupted  for  nothing  else.  3Iy 
corn  shift  for  that  year  was  reduced  in  size  one-half — so  that  one- 
half  could  be  marled  while  the  other  was  under  cultivation.  By 
these  means,  I  marled  80  acres  this  year,  1821  (and  that  much  too 
heavily),  and  had  all  the  lessened  corn-field  on  marled  land.  The 
product  of  the  half  was  equal  to  what  the  whole  had  brought  before, 
and  I  was  enabled  thereafter  to  have  every  field  marled  over  in 
advance  of  its  next  cultivation.  In  1822,  the  land  marled  was  93 
acres,  100  in  1823,  and  80  in  1824,  which  served  to  cover  nearly 
all  of  the  then  cleared  land  requiring  marling.  The  next  three 
years'  marling  amounted  respectively  to  50  acres,  24  acres,  and  27 
acres,  being  principally  upon  land  subsequently  cleared  and  brought 
into  cultivation.  Since  then,  there  has  been  no  marling  on  the 
farm,  except  on  wood-land,  not  yet  cleared,  and  on  small  spots  for- 
merly omitted,  and  of  which  no  account  was  taken.  With  the 
exception  of  such  spots  (and  some  such  still  remain,  because  of  their 
inconvenient  position),  all  the  land  which  was  not  naturally  calca- 
reous, or  too  wet,  or  too  steep  for  carting  on,  had  been  marled  by 
1827 ;  and  none  has  required  any  additional  dose,  though  some  of 
the  thinnest  covered  places  had  been  re-marled  long  before  that  time, 
so  as  to  bring  them  to  a  proper  constitution.     (1842.) 

In  1824,  I  first  observed  (and  had  never  before  suspected  such 
effect),  the  injury  caused  by  having  marled  acid  soil  too  heavily. 
To  show  my  first  impressions,  I  will  copy  the  words  of  my  farm 
journal,  written  on  the  very  day  on  which  the  discovery  was  fully 
made. 

"  June  13th,  1824.  Observed  a  new  and  alarming  disease  in  a 
large  proportion  of  my  corn;  and,  what  makes  the  matter  much 
wors^e,  the  evil  is  certainly  caused  by  marling.  The  disease  seems 
to  have  commenced  when  the  corn  was  from  6  to  10  inches  high, 
and  to  have  stopped  its  growth.  Its  general  colour  is  a  pale  sickly 
green,  and  the  leaves  appear  so  thin  as  to  be  almost  transparent : 
next,  they  become  streaked  with  rusty  red,  and  then  begin  to  die  at 
the  upper  ends.     Several  pulled  up,  showed  no  defect,  or  injury 


DAiMAQE  TO   CROPS   BY   MARLING.  425 

from  insects,  among  the  roots.  All  the  land  marled  from  pits  Nos. 
7  and  9  (both  yellow)  from  1820  to  1822,  is  so  much  diseased  as 
to  promise  not  more  than  half  a  crop.  The  corn  is  twice  as  large 
as  on  the  spaces  left  for  experiment  without  marl,  yet  looks  much 
worse ;  though  three  weeks  ago  its  superiority  in  colour  and  vigour 
was  even  more  than  in  size.  With  but  few  exceptions,  the  land 
newly  marled  from  the  same  pits,  and  the  old  marling  from  Nos.  1 
and  8  (both  blue),  as  well  as  that  not  marled,  are  free  from  this 
disease.  The  parts  most  affected  are  those  which  were  driest  and 
poorest,  and  of  course  were  least  covered  with  vegetable  matter. 
Vet  though  the  corn  on  this  old  marling  is  generally  so  bad,  it  is 
yet  evident  that  the  land  is  more  benefited  by  the  manure  than  at 
first.  Flourishing  stalks  of  corn,  18  to  24  inches  high,  are  seen  fre- 
quently within  a  few  feet  of  those  most  hurt  by  this  disease." 

Subsequently,  when  the  whole  extent  of  injury  could  be  seen, 
the  following  remarks  were  written  in  the  journal,  at  the  date 
below. 

"  October  15th.  The  damage  caused  by  marl  to  this  crop  I  sup- 
pose to  be  about  one-third  of  what  the  land  would  otherwise  have 
made,  judging  from  the  present  and  former  measurements  of  the 
same  land,  where  experiments  were  made. 

"  Nearly  all  the  heavy  marling  in  Finnies  (at  800  bushels),  about 
20  acres,*  suffered  by  it;  the  poorest  and  lightest  most  injured, 
here  and  in  Court-House  field.  The  few  rich  spots  escaped,  as  did 
most  of  the  piece  plastered  (on  the  heavy  marling)  in  1820.  The 
marks  of  this  experiment  were  destroyed,  and  the  superiority  was 
not  so  regular  as  to  enable  me  to  trace  the  outlines  of  the  gypseous 
earth — but  an  acre  of  corn  might  be  taken  which  certainly  was 
plastered,  better  than  any  other  acre  in  the  old  land.  This  at  least 
proves  that  gypsum  contained  [if  any]  in  the  marl  has  not  caused 
the  disease.  The  poor  land,  lightly  marled  in  1819,  showed  but 
little  of  the  disease,  and  none  was  found  in  the  piece  not  marled, 
nor  in  any  marled  since  the  last  crop  [or  now  first  cultivated  since 
being  marled.] 

"In  Court-House  field  the  injury  was  confined  to  19  acres,  the 
poorest  part  of  the  field,  which  was  in  corn  in  1821,f  marled  and 
fallowed  1822,  and  in  wheat  1823,  corn  1824.  The  remainder  of 
the  old  land,  which  had  not  been  cropped  so  severely,  and  was 
covered  as  heavily  with  blue  marl,  brought  a  fine  crop,  quite  free 
from  the  disease.  The  new  ground  was  mostly  marled  very  heavy 
(800  bushels  of  45  per  cent.),|  and  this  and  all  my  former  clear- 
ings (some  marled  equally  heavy)  were  also  quite  free.      These 

*  Sec  Exp.  10,  p.  132,  Essay  on  Cal.  Man. 

f  Exp.  11,  p.  135. 

%  Exp.  1  to  4,  pp.  117  to  121. 

36* 


426  DAMAGE   TO   CROPS   BY   MARLING. 

facts  satisfy  me  that  it  was  not  the  quality,  but  the  over  quantity 
of  marl  which  has  caused  the  evil ;  and  that  the  land  which  has 
escaped,  owes  its  safety  to  its  containing  more  vegetable  matter. 
I  forgot  to  state  that  on  some  of  the  lightest  spots  of  South  field  the 
wheat  was  much  injured,  though  blue  marl  was  used  there. 

"  If  I  had  followed  my  own  advice  to  others,  '  to  put  no  more 
marl  at  first  than  would  but  little  more  than  neutralize  the  soil,  and 
repeat  the  dressing  afterwards/  this  evil  would  not  have  fallen  on 
me.  The  present  loss  is  not  much ;  but  it  makes  me  expect  the 
same  on  all  similar  land,  marled  as  heavily.  I  shall  endeavour  to 
avoid  it,  by  giving  vegetable  matter  to  the  soil;  either  by  manur- 
ing, or  by  allowing  one  or  two  more  years  of  grass  in  the  first  term 
of  the  rotation.  Why  the  quantity  of  marl  applied  should  do  harm 
in  any  case,  is  more  than  I  can  tell ;  but  I  draw  this  consolation 
from  the  discovery — if  a  certain  quantity  (say  500  bushels  per 
acre)  is  too  much  for  present  use  of  the  soil,  it  proves  that  it  will 
combine  with  more  vegetable  matter,  and  fix  more  fertility  in  the 
soil,  than  I  had  supposed.  That  the  second  crop  should  be  injured, 
and  not  the  first,  is  owing  to  the  unbroken  state  of  the  shells  at 
first,  and,  by  their  being  reduced,  twice  as  much  calcareous  matter 
is  in  action  after  a  few  years." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  from  these  entries  made  at  the  time,  that  I 
took  a  correct  view  of  this  great  and  unlooked-for  evil,  and  was  by 
no  means  discouraged,  or  induced  to  lessen  my  efforts  in  marling. 
But  in  all  later  operations  on  poor  land,  the  quantity  was  lessened 
from  500  and  600  bushels  (and  even  more  of  the  poorest  marl),  to 
about  300  bushels.  With  this  alteration,  the  operation  was  con- 
tinued with  as  much  zeal  as  before ;  and  also  at  a  later  time  on  an- 
other farm  (Shellbanks)  purchased  afterwards,  and  where  I  marled 
upwards  of  400  acres. 

When  this  injury  was  first  discovered,  about  250  acres  of  very 
similar  land  had  been  marled  so  heavily  that  the  like  mischief  was 
to  be  looked  for  in  the  next  crop,  and  thenceforward,  if  not  guarded 
against.  For  a  more  full  account  of  this  disease,  and  my  opinions 
thereon,  I  must  refer  to  what  has  been  before  published.*  It  is 
sufficient  here  to  say  that  by  pursuing  the  means  there  advised — in 
allowing  more  rest  from  grain  crops,  furnishing  vegetable  matter 
to  the  land,  in  its  natural  cover  of  weeds,  in  clover,  and  in  farm-yard 
manure  so  far  as  the  limited  supply  sufficed — that  no  very  great 
loss  was  subsequently  suffered,  except  in  the  field  where  the  disease 
was  first  discovered,  and  which  was  marled  in  1819.  This  field 
was  too  remote  and  inconveniently  situated,  to  be  manured  from 
the  barn-yard ;  and  from  that  and  other  causes  (including  the 
failure  of  the  first  seeding  of  clover),  that  field  only  still  shows  in- 

*  Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures,  ante,  155. 


REPORT   TO   BOARD   OP  AGRICULTURE.  427 

jury  from  marling  in  the  present  crop  (1839);  so  much  diminished, 
however,  that  its  general  average  product  this  year  [1842]  is 
fully  twice  as  much  as  the  land  could  have  brought  before  being 
marled. 


NOTE  V. 

DESCRIPTION  AND  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  KINDS  OF  MARL, 
AND  OF  THE  GYPSEOUS  EARTH,  OF  THE  TIDE- WATER  REOION  OF 
VIRGINIA. 

Report  to  the   State  Board  of  Agriculture,  by   Edmund  Rvffin, 

Member  and  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board,  made  in 

1842,  and  now  corrected,  altered,  and  enlarged. 

Within  the  last  twenty-five  years  there  have  been  produced  from 
the  application  of  calcareous  manures  more  improvement  and  bene- 
fit, both  agricultural  and  general,  in  lower  Virginia,  than  from 
all  other  means  and  sources,  numerous  and  valuable  as  have  been 
the  agricultural  improvements  made.  And  for  the  latter  half  of 
that  time,  no  one  agricultural  subject  has  been  treated  of  more  at 
length  in  the  publications  of  this  state.  Still,  there  is  much  re- 
quired to  be  known  ;  and  it  has  very  often,  and  not  less  so  recently 
than  formerly,  been  required  of  the  writer,  who  has  furnished  to 
the  press  the  larger  part  of  all  that  has  thence  proceeded  on  this 
subject,  to  give  answers  to  inquiries,  which,  however  variously 
worded,  amounted  in  substance  to  the  question,  "  What  is  marl  ?" 
— or  "  Is  my  marl  (or  whatever  earth  was  so  termed)  good,  marl, 
and  likely  to  be  profitable  as  manure  V  It  has  therefore  appeared 
to  the  writer  that  it  would  be  useful  to  prepare  something  like  a 
natural  history,  or  general  and  full  description  of  the  marls  of  low- 
er Virginia  ;  and  also  of  the  kindred  and  yet  very  different  mineral 
manure,  the  gypseous  earth,  or- "  green-sand"  earth,  concerning 
which  latter  so  much  error  and  delusion  have  been  spread  and  long 
maintained,  and  so  little  of  truth  or  useful  information  derived  from 
the  scientific  sources  generally  respected  as  the  highest  authority. 

The  main  difficulty  in  the  treating  of  this  subject  is  presented  in 
the  outset  in  the  very  term  "  marl,"  which  is  altogether  misapplied 
now  in  this  country,  though  not  so  much  as  it  has  been,  and  per- 
haps still  is  in  England.  Since  this  general  course  of  misapplica- 
tion was  set  forth  by  the  writer  at  length  in  the  "  Essay  on  Calca- 
reous Manures,"  there  have  become  general  in  this  country  still 
other  misapplications  of  this  always  misapplied  term.  For  the 
"  green-sand"  earth  of  New  Jersey,  which  before  had  been  called 


428  CFIARACTER   OF   TRUE   MARL. 

"marl"  by  illiterate  farmers  only,  has  been  since  received  under 
that  name  by  chemists  and  the  scientific  reporters  of  geological  sur- 
veys ;  and  thus  confusion  has  become  still  "  worse  confounded." 
In  the  following  pages,  I  shall  be  compelled,  as  heretofore,  to  yield 
in  part  to  such  misapplication  of  the  term ;  but  at  the  expense  of 
some  otherwise  useless  repetition,  and  frequent  explanation,  shall 
hope  to  avoid  misleading  readers  as  to  each  of  the  particular  earths 
under  consideration.  And  I  shall  in  no  case  apply  the  term  marl 
to  any  but  a  calcareous  earth,  or  mixture  of  earths,  and  of  which  the 
calcareous  ingredient  or  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime  is  deemed 
sufficient  to  constitute  the  most  important,  if  not  indeed  forming  the 
only  important  or  appreciable  agent  of  fertilization ;  and  therefore 
I  shall  not  so  designate  either  the  fine  clays  (not  calcareous,  or  very 
slightly  so),  and  formerly,  if  not  now,  called  marl,  in  England,  or 
the  green-sand  earths  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware  or  Virginia,  when 
containing  very  little  or  no  carbonate  of  lime. 

True  marl,  as  correctly  understood  by  mineralogists,  is  a  fine 
calcareous  clay,  containing  very  little  silicious  sand,  and  none  coarse 
or  separate ;  of  firm  texture — not  plastic,  or  very  adhesive ;  does 
not  bend  under  pressure,  but  breaks  easily,  and  after  being  dried, 
the  lumps  speedily  crumble  when  immersed  in  water.  It  is  man- 
ifest, from  its  laminated  appearance  and  fracture,  that  this  true  marl 
had  been  originally  suspended  in  rapidly  flowing  waters,  and  de- 
posited at  the  bottom  by  subsidence,  when  the  waters  became  com- 
paratively still ;  as  when  a  rapid  river,  turbid  with  calcareous  clay, 
reached  a  lake.  Thus,  from  its  manner  of  formation,  such  marl, 
however  argillaceous,  was  of  a  texture  very  different  from  the  almost 
pure  or  the  most  tenacious  clays.  The  carbonate  of  lime  also  tends 
to  preserve  an  open  and  mellow  texture  in  true  marls,  disposing  the 
lumps  readily  to  yield  and  crumble,  or  fall  to  powder  or  to  thin 
flakes,  under  atmospherical  influences,  which  would  only  affect  clay 
by  making  it  an  intractable  sticky  mortar  when  wet,  or  lumps  of 
almost  stony  hardness  when  dry.  Moreover,  there  seems  good 
reason  to  believe  that  in  true  marl  there  is  a  chemical  combination 
(and  not  merely  a  mixture)  of  the  argillaceous  and  calcareous  in- 
gredients, induced  by  their  suspension  in  water,  when  the  particles 
of  both  were  in  the  finest  possible  state  of  division,  and  most  inti- 
mate intermixture,  while  so  suspended.  Besides  the  crumbling 
quality  just  stated,  so  different  from  clay,  there  is  a  still  stronger 
reason  for  believing  that  the  calcareous  and  the  silicious  parts  of 
true  marl  are  chemically  combined,  which  is,  as  I  have  found,  that 
they  cannot  be  separated  by  mechanical  means,  such  as  agitation 
and  subsidence  in  water.*     For  the  suggestion  that  the  different 

*The  silex  and  alumina  which  compose  the  purest  clay,  are  chemically 
combined  in  the  proportions  of  nearly  65  parts  of  silex  to  36  of  alumina ; 


MARL  AND   SIIELLS   OF   FRANCE.  429 

earthy  parts  of  true  marl  are  in  a  state  of  chemical  combination 
with  each  other,  I  am  indebted  to  the  "  Essaisur  la  Marjie"  of  M. 
Puvis,  which  work,  in  an  abridged  form,  I  translated  and  published 
in  the  third  volume  of  the  Farmers'  Register.  The  author  there 
also  states  that  the  marls  of  France  are  principally,  if  not  always, 
of  fresh-water  formation,  as  is  shown  by  the  shells  they  contain  be- 
ing cither  such  as  belong  to  rivers  and  lakes,  or  to  the  land.  This 
is  different  from  anything  known  in  lower  Virginia  ;  all  our  known 
marls,  whether  properly  or  improperly  so  termed,  being  deposits 
made  in  a  former  sea,  and  the  shells  being  those  «f  sea-animals.* 
But  though  it  is  proper  to  describe  that  which  only  is  truly 
"marl,"  before  speaking  of  what  is  improperly  so  called,  it  is  also 
true  that  there  is  nothing  to  tell  of  the  use  of  any  true  marl  in 
Virginia,  and  scarcely  of  its  existence  in  the  tide-water  region. — 
I  have  as  yet  seen  it  in  but  few  places,  and  there  ill  thin  layers 
only,  and  then  overlying  ordinary  beds  of  fossil  shells,  and  inter- 
mixed therewith. 

and  ■with  this,  to  constitute  true  marl,  carbonate  of  lime  is  also  combined, 
forming  a  triple  earthy  compound,  or  perhaps  a  quadruple  compound,  if 
including  the  small  proportion  of  oxide  of  iron,  which  is  a  general  or  uni- 
versal constituent  part  of  all  clays. 

*  "  It  may  be  of  some  interest  to  scientific  investigators  to  know  more 
particularly  the  shells  of  these  marls  of  France.  In  a  catalogue  annexed 
to  the  original  '  Essai  sur  la  Marne,'  the  author  names  the  following  shells: 

In  a  marl  sent  from  St.  Trivier — yellowish,  compact,  of  homogeneous  ap- 
pearance, and  coming  to  pieces  finely  and  easily  in  water — 
Land  shell — Turbo  elcgans. 
Miner  shells — Helix  fascicularis,  Helix  vivipara,  f  Helix  tentacula,  f  Mya  Tic- 

torum. 

In  a  marl  from  Cuiseaux,  Saone  et  Loire — 
River  shell — Melanopsidc  (of  Lamarck.) 

In  a  marl  from  Leugny,  in  Yonne — 
Land  shell — fChassilie  ridee  (of  Lamarck,  and  Draparnaud,  f Helix  lubrica. 

In  a  marl  from  St.  Priest  in  Dauphiny — earthy,  yellowish,  very  easy  to 
crumble  in  water — 
Land  shell — f  Ambrette  alongee,  of  Lamarck  and  Draparnaud,  f  Helix  hispida. 

In  an  analogous  formation  of  marl,  in  the  basin  of  the  Rhone,  between 
Meximieux  and  Montluel,  the  Helix  striee,  a  land  species,  is  found  in  great 
abundance." 

M.  I'uvis  states  that  among  these,  and  among  all  the  species  of  shells 
found  in  the  marls  of  the  basin  of  the  three  great  rivers,  Saone,  Rhone, 
and  Yonne,  there  are  no  remains  of  sea  shells.  All  seem  to  have  been 
formed  under  fresh  water.  "  But  (he  continues)  as  these  marls  contain 
land  shells,  often  in  great  abundance,  we  must  conclude,  that  the  revolution 
which  heaped  up  the  marls,  has  been  preceded  by  a  time  in  which  the  land 
was  not  covered  by  water,  in  which  the  earth  producing  vegetables,  per- 
mitted the  multiplication  of  the  species  of  land  shells  which  were  found  in 
these  marls." — Essai  sur  la  Marne,  p.  8  to  p.  24,  and  translation  in  Farmers' 
Register,  iii.,  note  to  p.  692. 

f  Living  species  are  still  found  in  the  same  region  similar  to  those  marked 
thus. 


430  FORMATION   OF    TRUE   MARL. 

This  marl  was  thus  found  in  two  of  my  diggings,  one  on  Coggins 
Point  farm,  and  the  other  at  Shcllbanks,  in  Prince  George  county. 
In  both  cases,  though  perfectly  characterized,  the  quantity  of  true 
marl  was  too  small  to  be  used  separately  from  the  more  calcareous 
and  much  thicker  stratum  of  shell  marl  below.  This  true  marl  was 
in  many  horizontal  layers,  few  of  which  were  severally  more  than  an 
inch  in  thickness,  separated  by  other  layers,  sometimes  very  thin, 
of  almost  pure  shells,  broken  very  small,  with  some  only  of  the 
very  smallest  entire.  The  pure  argillaceous  marl  is  blue  (though 
sometimes  of  buff  colour),  firm  and  compact,  breaks  easily,  but  does 
not  bend  however  moist,  and  is  cut  smooth  by  a  knife,  leaving  a 
surface  like  that  of  hard  soap.  This  marl  contained,  in  the  argilla- 
ceous part,  free  from  the  shelly  parts,  only  10  per  cent,  of  calca- 
reous matter.  Several  other  specimens,  from  other  localities  in  the 
same  region,  were  about  the  same  strength.  Therefore,  even  if 
more  plenty,  there  would  seem  to  be  no  inducement  to  use  our  true 
marl  where  the  beds  of  fossil  shells,  called  marl,  and  usually  so 
much  richer  in  calcareous  matter,  can  be  drawn  from.  But  in  Eu- 
rope, clay  marl  is  reported  as  rich  as  40  to  60  per  cent,  of  calca- 
reous matter,  and  indeed  richer,  gradually  running  into  lime-stone 
or  impure  chalk.* 

But  though  it  is  proper  to  know,  and  to  bear  in  mind,  what  is 
understood  by  the  term  marl,  by  mineralogists,  and  by  the  best  in- 
formed English  and  French  agricultural  writers,  in  regard  to  the 
extensive  marlings  in  those  countries,  yet  it  is  necessary  in  Virgi- 
nia to  conform  generally  to  the  usage  which  gives  the  name  of  marl 
to  all  earths  largely  mixed  with  fossil  shells,  or  their  fragments; 
and  as  the  term  is  so  far  improperly  extended,  I  would  carry  it  still 
farther,  and  make  it  embrace  all  natural  calcareous  earths  not  of 
stony  hardness.  This  arrangement  then  would  indeed  include  true 
marl,  but  merely  as  one  class,  and  that  one  the  least  noticeable  for 
abundance  or  value  of  all  in  this  country.  The  following  scheme 
of  classification  will  conform  to  this  view,  and  serve  to  make  more 
clear  the  descriptions  that  will  follow  : — 

*Such  cases  as  are  named  above  can  scarcely  be  deemed  exceptions  to 
the  entire  non-existence  of  true  marl  in  this  region.  These  limited  de- 
posits were  doubtless  formed  by  the  abrading,  stirring  up,  and  suspension 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  beds  of  shelly  earth,  by  some  strong  current  or 
agitation  of  the  sea,  and  the  subsequent  deposition  of  the  finest  parts  in 
tranquil  water.  The  small  shells  and  shelly  powder  sometimes  seen  be- 
tween these  layers  of  clay  marl,  were  brought  and  deposited  during  other 
intervals  of  more  agitated  water.  I  have  often  seen  such  deposits  of  per- 
fect true  marl,  artificially  produced,  in  the  small  open  drains  of  marl-pits 
(of  our  fossil  shells),  by  the  gradual  settling  of  the  suspended  fine  earthy 
matters  from  the  turbid  water. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF  MARLS. 


431 


'B 


•9 


M 

< 


I.   Stony    '  ,, 
texture. 


Lime-stone  proper. 

Marl-stone. 

Recent  oyster  or  other  Lard  shells. 


2. 
3. 
4. 


II.  Earthy 
texture, 
or  marl  in 
general 
and  in 
most  ex- 
tended 
sense. 


Chalk. 

Impure  chalk. 

Travertin  or  calcareous  tufa. 

Argillo-calcareous  marl,  or  true 
marl  (of  mineralogists). 


5.  Shelly  sea-sand. 


[6.  Shell-marl. 


A.  Fossil 

fresh-water 

shells. 


B.  Tertiary 
fossil  sea- 
shells. 


w 


l« 


'a.  Sandy  mi- 
ocene  mail. 


|  b.  Clayey  mi- 
[    ocene  marl. 


f  c.  Calcareous 
eocene  marl, 
with  very  lit- 
tle if  any 
green-sand. 


d.  Calcareous 
matter  and 
green-sand, 
both  consi- 
derable. 


e.    Gypseous 
or  green- 
sand  earth, 
with  little  if 
any  calca- 
reous matter. 


432  CHALK   AND    "ROTTEN   LIME-STONE." 

This  plan  of  classification  has  reference  to  the  agricultural  or 
manuring  characters  only  of  the  substances  named.  Those  which 
do  not  come  under  the  head  of  marl,  in  the  extended  sense  adopted 
above,  and  which  are  not  important  in  Virginia,  will  be  dismissed 
with  but  slight  notice. 

The  general  and  very  comprehensive  term  calx  is  here  used  to 
include  every  natural  (or  indeed  artificial)  formation  of  earth,  stone, 
or  shells,  separate  or  in  mixture,  in  which  carbonate  of  lime  is  a 
considerable  and  the  most  important  part.  All  such  substances  be- 
long to  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  great  divisions — I.,  of  stony  hard- 
ness, and  II.,  of  softer  or  earthy  texture. 

I.  The  stony  bodies  require  to  be  burnt  to  quick-lime,  to  be 
used  profitably..^  manure.  Such  are,  1,  compact  or  ordiuary  lime- 
stones j  2,  maMRone,  or  the  hardest  and  largest  stony  nodules  or 
continuous  layers  in  softer  marl ;  and  3,  oyster  or  other  recent  and 
hard  shells. 

II.  The  calcareous  substances  of  earthy  texture,  soft  enough  to 
be  used  as  manures,  without  being  reduced  by  calcination,  all  come 
under  the  general  and  extended  term  marl,  as  here  used.  The 
most  important  substances  to  be  included  under  this  head,  are  the 
following  : — 

1.  Chalk  proper  (nearly  pure  carbonate  of  lime),  such  as  is 
abundant  in  parts  of  England  and  France,  is  said  by  geologists  not 
to  exist  in  North  America.  But  there  is  what  may  be  deemed,  in 
agricultural  sense,  an  impure  chalk,  (2,)  which  spreads  over  or  un- 
der an  immense  extent  of  this  continent.  This  is  in  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  called  "  rotten  limestone."  It  underlies,  in  beds  of  se- 
veral hundred  feet  of  thickness,  large  portions  of  these  states,  and  of 
Florida  and  Arkansas ;  much  of  Texas,  and,  as  I  believe,  most  of 
the  vast  prairie  region  between  the  Mississippi  river  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  This  earth,  so  far  as  known  to  me  by  specimens  only, 
is  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime  principally,  but  with  some  20  to 
35  per  cent,  of  clay.  It  is  of  a  dingy  whitish  colour  when  dry;  has 
about  the  degree  of  hardness  of  chalk,  to  which  this  earth  approaches 
more  nearly  in  composition,  texture,  and  colour,  than  to  either  lime- 
stone or  to  true  marl.  It  may  be  inferred  from  the  words  of  de- 
scription in  Fremont's  Report,  that  this  is  the  earth  which  forms 
the  great  region  through  which  part  of  the  river  Platte  passes,  and 
which  is  found  from  the  lowest  visible  depths  to  the  summits  of  the 
crumbling  cliffs,  some  of  which  are  many  hundreds  of  feet  high,  so 
remarkable  along  the  banks  of  that  river.  I  further  infer  that  it  is 
this  chalky  and  highly  calcareous  character  of  the  surface-soil  and 
sub-soil  which  renders  this  region  generally  so  barren,  and  usually 
so  destitute  of  water ;  while  the  continual  crumbling  of  the  banks  of 
the  same  barren  earth  into  the  river,  and  the  earth  being  carried 
down  by  the  floods,  intermixed  with  other  suspended  earths,  and 


TRAVERTIN   AND   ARQILLO-CALCAREOUS   MARL.  433 

finally  deposited  upon  the  lands  flooded  by  the  Mississippi,  serve  to 
constitute  the  wonderfully  fertile  borders  of  that  river. 

3.  Travertin,  or  calcareous  tufa,  is  another  subject  of  the  many 
provincial  and  improper  applications  of  the  term  marl.  It  is  tho 
deposit  made  by  the  precipitation  of  carbonate  of  lime  from  it3 
previous  solution  in  lime-stone  water.  The  rain-water,  in  falling 
through  the  atmosphere,  absorbs  carbonic  acid ;  which  impregnation 
enables  water  to  dissolve  and  hold  in  solution  carbonate  of  lime, 
with  which  the  water  meets  in  abundance  in  lime-stone  regions. 
Thus  the  springs  and  streams  of  lime-stone  water  are  produced. 
But  the  carbonic  acid  absorbed  by  the  water  is  retained  with  but 
little  force,  and  parted  with  to  the  atmosphere  very  easily.  This 
occurs  wherever  the  water,  so  charged,  is  in  contact  with  the  at- 
mosphere ;  and  consequently  the  more  in  proportion  to  the  exposure 
of  its  surface  by  the  agitation  of  the  water.  Hence,  at  rapids  and 
cascades  of  lime-stone  streams,  this  precipitation  is  always  found 
most  abundant;  and  sometimes  in  immense  quantity.  It  is  prin- 
cipally of  carbonate  of  lime  (about  70  or  75  per  cent,  in  the  trials 
I  have  made),  of  cellular  and  open,  though  hard  consistence,  when 
of  newest  formation,  and  not  difficult  to  reduce;  and  much  more 
loose  and  soft  in  other  cases.  This  deposit  will  be  found  the  cheapest, 
and  also  a  very  rich  calcareous  manure  (though  never  yet  used,  to 
my  knowledge),  for  the  neighbouring  lands.  It  is  the  product  only 
of  lime-stone  streams,  either  ancient  or  existing. 

4.  Argillo-calcareous  marl,  or  true  marl,  has  already  been  de- 
scribed, as  to  its  texture  and  constitution.  This  marl  is  not  pro- 
perly shelly,  though  shells  may  be  accidentally  intermixed  during 
the  deposition.  Nor  can  any  coarse  or  separate  sand  belong  to  it, 
nor  any  other  coarse  and  heavy  matters,  which  would  not  remain  sus- 
pended in  water  flowing  with  but  a  moderate  current. 

This  true  marl  is  formed  by  the  washing  away  and  suspension 
of  calcareous  and  other  earth  in  the  waters  of  transient  land 
floods  of  rain-waters,  or  of  rapid  rivers  and  smaller  streams.  The 
finer  parts  only  of  the  different  earths  can  remain  long  suspended 
in  the  flowing  waters,  after  the  current  ceases  to  be  violent.  These 
finest  parts  of  all,  aluminous  and  silicious  as  well  as  calcareous,  are 
most  intimately  mixed,  and  chemically  combined,  while  suspended ; 
and  finally  are  deposited  in  the  form  and  quality  of  marl,  when 
reaching  a  lake,  or  other  comparatively  still  part  of  the  water.  Of 
course  no  such  marl  could  have  been  formed  unless  the  source  of 
original  supply  of  materials  existed,  and  also  the  manner  of  abra- 
sion, transportation,  and  subsidence ;  and  no  such  source  of  calca- 
reous earth  could  be  presented  except  in  higher  chalk  or  chalky 
beds,  or  otherwise  highly  calcareous  soils  and  sub-soils.  Compact 
lime-stone  alone,  no  matter  how  abundant,  because  of  its  hardness, 
could  scarcely  serve  as  a  source  of  supply.  It  follows,  that  such 
37 


434  SHELL   SAXD — FRESH-WATER   SHELL   MARL. 

marl  may  be  presumed  to  hare  been  found  and  to  exist  in  the 
places  of  ancient  lakes,  or  other  still  waters,  in  all  chalk  regions — 
in  the  vast  "  rotten  lime-stone"  and  prairie  region  of  the  southern 
and  western  (or  interior)  parts  of  North  America — rarely,  if  ever, 
in  our  mountain  lime-stone  region,  and  certainly  never  in  our  tide- 
water region.  The  calcareous  beds  of  the  tide-water  region  have 
entirely  a  different  origin,  having  been  originally  deposited  or 
formed  and  grown  on  the  bottom  of  the  ancient  ocean,  and  since 
upheaved  to  their  present  higher  elevation.  And  it  would  be  as 
useless  to  search  for  the  latter  formation  in  the  higher  country. 
Hence,  the  geological  character  of  any  region  will  indicate  very 
accurately  whether  either  one,  and  which  of  these  kinds  of  marl, 
or  neither  of  them,  can  be  found. 

5.  Sea-sand  is  used  to  great  advantage  as  manure  in  some  parts 
of  France,  and  Britain  and  Ireland.  A  large,  and  sometimes  the 
larger  part  of  this  sand  consists  of  finely  reduced  shells,  rubbed  to 
granular  state  by  the  power  of  the  waves;  and  this  calcareous  in- 
gredient is  the  all-important  fertilizing  part  of  this  manure,  though 
its  operation  and  even  its  presence  may  be  sometimes  unknown  to 
the  ignorant  users.* 

6.  Shell  marl  may  be  divided  into  (A)  fossil  fresh-water  shell 
marl,  and  (B)  fossil  sea-shell  marl. 

A.  The  first  of  these  kinds  is  what  is  usually,  if  not  always, 
understood  by  the  name  "  shell  marl"  by  English  writers.  It  is 
formed  by  the  gradual  accumulation  of  the  shells  of  small  fresh- 
water shell-fish,  of  existing  species,  on  the  bottoms  of  the  shallow 
lakes  and  ponds  where  the  animals  had  lived  and  died.  When  the 
bottom  had  been  raised  by  this  long-continued  accumulation,  and 
perhaps  increased  by  like  deposits  washed  from  higher  sources, 
nearly  to  the  level  of  the  surface  of  the  water,  then  water-plants 
began  to  grow  and  to  form  a  new  accumulation  of  vegetable  matter, 
intermixed  with  the  continuing  deposits  of  earthy  matter  from 
occasional  turbid  floods.  Finally,  by  these  means,  the  lake  was 
changed  to  a  peat-bog,  wet  and  miry,  though  usually  free  from 
standing  water.  It  is  usually  under  peat,  and  sometimes  at  con- 
siderable depths,  that  this  peculiar  and  very  rich  calcareous  manure 
is  found.  It  is  almost  pure  carbonate  of  lime.  It  has  been  sold 
in  Scotland  by  the  bushel,  at  a  high  price,  and  in  great  quantity, 
for  manure."|* 

*  A  notice  of  the  English  sand,  showing  old  opinions  of  its  value  and 
operation,  was  quoted  at  page  381  of  this  Essay. 

f  In  the  Edinburgh  Fanners'  Magazine,  vol.  iv.  p.  153,  there  is  an  inte- 
lesting  article  (most  of  which  was  republished  in  the  Farmers'  Register, 
vol.  i.  p.  90),  describing  a  large  body  of  this  kind  of  shell  marl,  under 
Resteneth  peat-moss,  Forfar,  Scotland.     Most  of  the  shells  are  of  the  wa- 


TERTIARY   SHELL   MARL.  435 

This  formation  has  been  found  in  Vermont,  in  western  New 
York,  and  probably  exists  in  many  parts  of  all  the  other  northern 
states.  I  have  never  heard  of  its  existence  in  Virginia,  but  infer 
that  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  western  and  mountainous  region.  It 
may  be  sought  for  with  the  greatest  probability  of  success,  in 
regions  where  ancient  lakes  or  pools  had  been  filled  by  gradual  de- 
positions— and  especially  if  such  waters  had  been  impregnated  by 
carbonate  of  lime,  affording  abundant  supply  of  material  for  the 
shells  of  the  animals.  A  cool  and  moist  mountain  region  also 
favours  the  formation  of  peat.  The  presence  of  this  substance  is 
connected  with  that  of  such  shelly  deposits  below  only  so  far  as 
this :  that  the  collections  of  waters  which  would  produce  and 
finally  be  filled  up  by  the  gradual  deposition  of  shells,  in  such  a 
climate,  woul^  be  most  apt  to  invite  the  formation  of  peat  subse- 
quently. Therefore,  under  peat,  if  in  hollows,  the  deposits  of  such 
shell  marl  are  most  likely  to  be  found. 

B.    Tertiary  fossil  sea-shell  Marl. 

The  second  division  of  shell  marl  is  the  great  and  almost  only 
marl  of  the  tide-water  region  of  Virginia — and  also  of  Maryland, 
the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia.  It  was  produced  by  the  gradual  depo- 
sition and  accumulation  of  the  shells  left  by  the  animals,  mostly  of 
species  now  extinct,  which  had  lived  and  died  in  them,  on  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ancient  ocean.  This  former  bottom  of  the  ocean  was 
subsequently  elevated,  by  some  great  convulsion  of  the  earth,  much 
above  the  original  level,  and  generally  much  higher  than  the  sur- 
face of  the  ocean  waters.  Thus,  these  wide-spread  beds  of  shells, 
with  the  various  admixtures  of  sand,  clay,  or  pulverized  shells, 
brought  by  currents,  or  the  force  of  the  waves,  became  high  land; 
and  the  different  conditions  and  qualities  are  such  as  might  be  in- 
ferred from  the  different  operations  of  the  original  producing 
causes,  with  the  additional  aid  of  a  subsequent  state  of  rest  for 
countless  ages.  After  the  production  and  accumulation  of  these 
beds  of  shells,  to  depths  varying  with  circumstances,  a  mighty 
flood,  proceeding  from  the  direction  of  the  present  higher  lands, 
swept  over  this  great  region,  washing  off  and  carrying  away  much 
of  the  higher  parts  of  these  shelly  beds,  and  then  covering  the  re- 
mainder with  the  drift  of  various  earths  brought  and  deposited  by 
this  great  land  flood.  Thus  the  beds  of  fossil  sea-shells  are  gene- 
rally thin  in  lower  Virginia,  and  entirely  wanting  in  many  and 
wide  intervals;  and  are  mostly  covered  by  a  far  greater  thickness 

ter  snail  (helix  pulris,  Linnaeus),  others  are  bivalves  (generally  iellina,  ani- 
mal tethys,  Lin.)  From  this  deposit,  the  proprietor  had  sold  a3  much  for 
manure  as  brought  him  £12,000  sterling,  in  the  twelve  years  after  its  use 
had  been  begun. 


436  SHELL   MABX   OF   VIRGINIA. 

of  layers  of  drifted  and  barren  sand3  or  clays,  or  both,  with  a  sur- 
face-soil usually  poor  and  thin.  Farther  south,  the  denuding  and 
destructive  power  of  this  flood  was  so  much  less,  that  the  shell 
bed  is  leff  several  hundred  feet  in  thickness.  In  Virginia,  the  re- 
maining bod  is  in  most  cases  less  than  fifteen  feet  in  thickness, 
and  rarely  much  more. 

As  there  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  all  the  present  great 
tide-water  region  of  the  countries  last  named  was  formerly  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  for  an  immense  length  of  time,  we  may  in- 
fer that  the  whole  was  originally  covered,  to  greater  or  less  depth, 
with  a  continuous  bed  of  shells.  Wherever  this  formation  is  now 
wanting,  it  must  have  been  removed  by  the  subsequent  washing 
flood,  previous  to  its  later  action  of  depositing  the  enormous  bed 
of  drifted  earth,  which  overlies  the  shells,  or  their  former  place. 

The  fossil  shell  beds  of  Virginia,  which  will  be  the*rnain  subject 
to  be  treated  of  here,  may  be  again  conveniently  divided,  for  de- 
scription and  observation,  into  two  kinds,  of  (B  1)  Miocene,  and 
(B  2)  Eocene.  These  terms  (with  others)  were  introduced  by 
Professor  Lyell,  and  designate  the  formations  of  different  geologi- 
cal eras.  As  they  are  now  of  general  acceptation  by  geologists, 
and  also  are  generally  understood  by  agricultural  readers,  these 
terms  will  be  convenient,  and  will  be  here  used  to  designate  the 
different  marls  to  which  they  belong.  If  the  difference  between 
these  two  kinds  were  merely  geological,  or  in  regard  to  comparative 
ages  of  formation,  or  to  the  respective  fossils  of  each,  it  would  be 
useless  to  preserve  it  in  writing  on  agriculture,  however  marked  the 
difference,  and  however  interesting  to  the  geologist.  But  there  is 
also  a  difference  of  agricultural  character  and  value  in  these  two 
kinds  of  marl.  In  relation  merely  to  each  other,  the  terms  eocene 
and  miocene  may  be  sufficiently  understood  as  the  older  and  newer 
formations.  But  it  will  not  do  as  well  to  substitute  the  latter 
terms,  because,  though  correct  as  to  each  other,  they  are  not  so 
generally,  or  in  relation  to  other  marls  and  geological  formations. 
For  there  are  some  (of  secondary  formation)  much  older  than  the 
eocene,  and  others  (older  and  newer  pliocenes  and  post-pliocene) 
much  more  recently  formed  than  the  miocene.  With  neither  of 
these  is  it  necessary  to  encumber  this  report,  by  other  than  slight 
notice,  as  neither  are  known  in  Virginia;  nor  elsewhere  do  they 
present  important  differences  of  agricultural  character  and  qualities. 

The  different  periods  of  time  of  these  two  different  deposits  of 
shells  were  very  remote  from  each  other,  and  the  latest  of  them 
was  also  very  remote  from  the  present  time.  In  the  miocene  marl 
of  Virginia,  or  later  of  the  two,  of  the  numerous  species  of  shells 
found,  there  are  but  few  kinds  belonging  to  races  of  animals  known 
or  believed  to  be  yet  existing;  and  in  the  eocene  marl  of  Virginia 
there  are  almost  none  that  now  exist,  and  very  few  that  belong 


MIOCENE   MARL.  437 

also  to  the  miocene  marls.  According  to  the  highest  geological 
authority,  most  of  the  races  of  animals  whose  remains  formed  the 
latest  as  well  as  the  earliest  of  these  deposits,  were  extinct  hefore 
the  creation  of  man. 

Although  it  might  he  more  conformable  to  regular  or  scientific 
arrangement  to  commence  a  general  description  with  the  older  and 
lower  deposit,  the  eocene  marls,  yet  it  will  better  suit  the  purpose 
of  agricultural  instruction  to  reverse  the  order,  by  describing  first 
the  miocene  marls,  as  the  highest  in  the  series  and  the  first  reached, 
and  by  very  far  the  most  abundant  and  extensively  accessible ;  and 
which,  therefore,  though  usually  less  powerful  for  fertilization,  are 
much  the  most  important  to  agriculture  in  Virginia  in  general.  I 
shall  therefore  proceed  first  to  treat  of  the  miocene  marls,  which 
are  the  only  kinds  known  to  me  in  Virginia,  with  the  exceptions 
of  the  two  comparatively  small  districts  of  eocene  marl,  which  will 
be  hereafter  treated  of  in  their  order. 

Miocene  Marls. 

When  my  investigations  and  practical  labours  on  this  subject 
were  commenced,  more  than  twenty-four  years  ago  (in  1818),  the 
existence  of  marl  of  any  kind,  or  rather  its  shells,  obvious  to  the 
sight,  had  been  noticed  in  lower  Virginia  at  but  a  few  places,  where 
naturally  exposed  along  steep  river  banks,  and  where  cut  through 
by  deep  ravines,  and  thus  rendered  conspicuous ;  and  the  deposit 
was  supposed  to  be  very  limited,  by  the  few  persons  who  had  ever 
cast  a  thought  upon  the  subject.  But  the  attention  and  observa- 
tion subsequently  directed  to  the  search,  soon  showed  that  the 
quantity  was  very  far  more  extensive;  and  now,  though  not  gene- 
rally near  the  surface  of  the  earth,  nor  everywhere  accessible,  it 
seems  probable  that  beds  of  fossil  shells  underlie  much  the  greater 
part  of  all  the  region  between  the  falls  of  the  rivers  and  the  sea- 
shore. Except  at  or  near  the  places  where  exposed  on  the  surface, 
as  above  mentioned,  the  overlying  (drift)  earth  is  generally  20  or 
80  and  sometimes  even  50  feet  thick.  All  the  marl-beds  appear  to 
be  nearly  horizontal,  and  of  course  are  the  most  deeply  covered 
under  the  highest  lands,  and  are  most  easily  accessible  in  low  de- 
pressions. The  deposit  dips  gently  towards  the  east,  so  that  it  lies 
too  deep  to  be  visible  near  the  sea-coast.  At  Norfolk,  the  marl 
has  been  recently  reached,  in  boring  deep  for  water,  at  40  feet  be- 
low that  low  surface,  and,  of  course,  much  below  the  sea. 

The  marl  is  formed  by  the  deposit  and  gradual  accumulation  of 
sea-shells,  mostly  left  where  the  animals  died;  and  the  vacancies 
between  the  shells  were  filled  by  the  sand  or  clay,  or  mixtures  of 
both,  with  fragments  of  older  shells,  brought  by  tide  and  currents, 
and  deposited  in  what  was  then  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  re- 
markably perfect  state  of  preservation  of  many  very  thin  and 
37* 


438  MIOCENE    MARL. 

always  fragile  shells,  and  still  more  the  many  pairs  of  bivalve  sheila 
that  yet  are  found  connected  or  in  contact,  prove  that  such  shells 
could  not  have  been  transported,  or  even  much  agitated,  by  the 
force  of  the  water.  But  other  beds  of  marl,  and  also  frequently 
the  upper  layers  of  such  as  have  been  just  referred  to,  show  as 
clearly  the  action  of  currents,  or  of  water  in  violent  and  long-con- 
tinued motion,  which  served  to  grind  down  the  shells  to  small 
fragments,  and  which  also  left,  in  shaping  the  surface  of  the  marl, 
the  marks  of  whirlpools  or  other  violent  disturbance.  From  such 
supposed  causes  might  be  expected  such  effects  as  many  of  the 
various  marl-beds  actually  exhibit.  In  different  places,  and  some- 
times in  the  same  place,  the  shells  and  their  fragments  are  found 
of  all  sizes,  and  of  all  conditions  of  preservation ;  and  intermixed, 
in  various  proportions,  with  such  clay,  or  fine  sand,  as  might  be 
suspended  in  or  borne  by  currents,  or  waves  of  the  sea ;  so  as  to 
form  beds  of  every  degree  of  texture  and  shade  of  colour.  The 
shells,  and  their  fragments,  or  the  carbonate  of  lime,  are  in 
various  proportions  of  quantity,  from  10  per  cent,  (or  even  less  in 
rare  cases)  to  90  per  cent,  or  more,  of  the  mixture,  or  whole  mass. 
In  different  beds,  and  sometimes  in  contiguous  layers  of  the  same 
bed,  the  shells  are  in  every  state  of  preservation  or  of  decay ;  from 
that  of  being  firm,  and  often  entire  in  their  calcareous  structure, 
and  the  most  delicate  parts  of  their  beautiful  forms  preserved,  to 
that  of  being  mostly  broken  down,  and  almost  reduced  to  a  coarse 
powder,  and  sometimes  even  forming  a  homogeneous  mass  of  still 
finer  particles,  in  which  the  forms  of  but  few  if  any  shells  are  dis- 
tinguishable. The  original  bright  and  various  colours  of  the  shells 
are  lost,  and  they  are  nearly  all  white — a  few  of  the  hardest  kinds 
only  being  brown  or  gray.  The  texture  of  the  mass  also  varies, 
from  a  loose  sand  to  a  firm  body  of  almost  stony  hardness.  The 
earth  intermixed  with  the  shells  is  generally  much  more  sandy 
than  clayey,  and  more  especially  in  the  poorer  marls.  Even  when 
the  admixture  of  earth  is  clay,  it  rarely  makes  the  marl  appear  the 
least  clayey  in  texture,  or  plastic  or  adhesive,  because  the  clay  is 
usually  but  in  small  proportion  to  the  shelly  matter.  Even  when 
the  proportion  of  clay  is  great,  the  carbonate  of  lime,  according  to 
its  quantity  and  degree  of  reduction,  counteracts  the  tendency  of 
the  clay,  and  prevents  the  mass  being  tough,  adhesive,  or  obdurate. 
The  colour  of  the  miocene  marls  is  also  various — generally  either 
pale  yellow  or  dingy  white,  or  blue,  sometimes  bright,  but  more 
often  a  dull  blue,  or  ash  colour.  The  richest  marls,  of  homogene- 
ous texture,  are  nearly  white  when  dry,  and  approach  in  appear- 
ance to  a  coarse  or  impure  chalk. 

The  shell  marls  of  Virginia  are  confined  almost  entirely  to  the 
tide-water  region,  or  the  space  eastward  of  the  granite  which  forms 
the  falls  of  all  our  eastern  rivers.     But  near  Petersburg  (on  the 


MIOCENE   MARL.  439 

farm  of  Dr.  William  I.  Dupuy,  and  other  adjoining  lands)  there 
is  an  exception  to  this  general  rule,  the  marl  being  found  about  a 
mile  farther  west,  overlapping  the  eastern  and  lowest  part  of  the 
grauite,  and  passing  under  a  small  stream  which  empties  into  the 
Appomattox,  a  mile  above  the  lowest  falls. 

The  only  important  fertilizing  ingredient  of  the  miocene  marls  is 
the  carbonate  of  lime,  or  shelly  matter.  There  may  be,  and  proba- 
bly is,  some  slight  additional  benefit  sometimes,  from  accidental  or 
peculiar  admixtures  of  other  substances ;  as,  of  animal  matter  still 
remaining,  or,  in  limited  spaces,  the  phosphate  of  lime  supplied  by 
bones  of  large  fish  or  sea  reptiles ;  or  of  vegetable  extract  in  blue 
marls,  of  the  oxide  of  iron,  of  a  very  small  proportion  of  green- 
sand  generally;  and  even  of  the  clay  or  the  sand,  respectively  for 
soils  deficient  in  either.  But  either  and  all  of  these  additional  mat- 
ters, though  giving  some  value  as  manure,  are  of  but  little  im- 
portance in  miocene  marls,  in  comparison  to  the  main  and  great 
agent  of  fertilization,  the  shelly  or  calcareous  matter.  According 
then  to  the  greater  or  less  proportion  of  this  main  ingredient,  and 
to  its  state  of  division  or  readiness  to  be  reduced  to  a  state  of  mi- 
nute division  in  the  soil,  may  be  rated  the  comparative  values  of 
marls  for  manure.  In  regard  to  the  much  larger  proportions  of 
green-sand  in  miocene  marls,  as  asserted  by  other  authority,  and  de- 
nied by  me,  some  additional  remarks  will  be  hereafter  submitted,  in 
the  proper  order  for  consideration. 

As  might  be  inferred  from  the  obvious  manner  of  the  deposition 
of  the  marl,  as  before  stated,  by  waters  of  the  sea  in  violent  and 
yet  varying  degrees  of  motion,  the  different  horizontal  layers  of 
marl,  successively  deposited  in  the  same  bed,  and  even  within  a  few 
inches  of  pei-pendicular  distance  of  each  other,  sometimes  exhibit 
remarkable  differences  of  appearance,  composition,  and  of  value; 
while  there  is  also  generally  as  remarkable  a  uniformity  of  charac- 
ter of  each  particular  layer  (though  differing  much  in  thickness  at 
different  places)  throughout  not  only  the  different  diggings  of  the 
same  place,  but  sometimes  for  miles  in  extent.  I  have  seen  often, 
in  diggings  on  different  farms,  and  several  miles  apart,  layers  of 
marl  so  precisely  alike,  and  so  marked  in  peculiar  character,  that 
there  could  be  no  doubt  of  their  being  parts  of  the  same  particular 
deposit,  made  at  the  same  time,  and  by  the  same  operating  natural 
causes.  Under  such  circumstances,  a  practised  eye  can  by  com- 
parison fix  very  nearly  the  chemical  composition  of  similar  varie- 
ties, and  even  more  correctly,  for  general  averages  of  value,  than 
would  be  usually  obtained  from  the  accurate  chemical  analysis  of 
one  or  two  specimens  only.  For  the  usual  danger  of  error  is,  not 
in  the  chemical  analysis  (which  is  easily  enough  made,  and  the 
mode  sufficiently  correct),  but  in  the  selection  of  equal  and  fair 
specimens  of  marl  to  exhibit  the  average  strength  of  the  whole  body 


440  MIOCENE   MARL. 

excavated ;  which  requires  much  more  experience  and  accuracy  than 
are  usually  exercised  by  most  operators,  and  still  more  in  regard  to 
proprietors  who  send  specimens  of  their  marls  to  be  analyzed  by 
other  persons.  It  is  highly  important  to  the  farmer  to  know  the 
strength  of  the  marl  he  is  using.  And  to  this  end,  it  is  necessary 
that  every  layer  should  be  carefully  analyzed,  or,  what  is  better,  a 
specimen  from  an  equal  and  continuous  shaving  of  the  whole  ver- 
tical section  of  a  digging,  so  as  to  furnish  a  fair  average  of  the  whole 
body.  But  after  this  trouble  is  once  taken,  the  general  result  will 
serve  for  all  the  future  diggings  at  the  same  place,  and  also  for 
similar-bodies  more  or  less  remote. 

The  layers  of  marls  formed  by  shells  left  "in  place,"  or  where 
the  animals  died,  are  in  general  the  poorest ;  and  for  this  obvious 
reason,  that  all  the  hollows  of  and  interstices  between  the  shells  are 
filled  by  what  is  mostly  earth  (but  mixed  with  more  or  less  of  shelly 
fragments),  and  that  earth  is  principally  silicious  sand.  Marl  so 
formed,  will  not  have  more  than  35  to  at  most  40  per  cent,  of  cal- 
careous matter,  and  more  often  only  from  25  to  35.  The  sand  or 
earth  that  would  be  required  to  fill  all  the  hollows  and  chinks  of  a 
body  of  entire  shells,  of  ordinary  form,  though  touching  each  other 
at  their  edges  and  points,  would  necessarily  be  as  much  as  65  to  75 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  mass.  And  therefore,  it  is  only  because  of, 
and  in  proportion  to,  the  quantity  of  shelly  particles  mixed  and 
borne  along  with  the  earth  brought  by  currents  and  deposited  among 
the  whole  shells,  that  such  marl  is  sometimes  richer  than  25  to  35 
per  cent,  in  calcareous  matter.  The  degree  of  admixture  of  shelly 
fragments  in  this  filling  earth,  may  be  easily  judged  of  by  an  expe- 
rienced eye,  and  the  proportion  of  shells  and  large  fragments  will 
depend  much  on  the  forms  of  the  prevailing  kinds  of  shells.  It  is 
easy  to  know  the  marls  formed  by  shells  left  in  their  original  place, 
by  the  state  of  the  shells.  Either  the  shells  being  whole,  and  es- 
pecially the  more  fragile  varieties,  or  the  two  sides  of  bivalve  shells 
being  found  in  close  contact,  as  when  the  animal  was  living,  will 
show  clearly  that  the  dead  shells  had  not  been  much  agitated,  or 
borne  along  by  currents.  The  beds  or  layers  formed  by  removal, 
are  as  easily  known  by  the  broken  and  finely  reduced  state  of  the 
shells.  These  marls  are  usually  much  the  richest  in  calcareous 
matter;  for,  by  the  grinding  operation  of  the  currents,  and  the 
difference  of  specific  gravity  in  the  particles  carried  along,  the  cal- 
careous powder  and  clay  are  deposited  together,  with  but  little  sili- 
cious sand.  Anions:  the  richest  marls  are  some  having  whole  shells 
in  their  original  places,  but  of  which  the  interstices  are  filled  by 
such  fine  calcareous  and  clayey  earth  as  could  have  been  deposited 
only  in  waters  nearly  still.  Such  are  the  rich  marls  in  and  about 
Williamsburg,  and  in  Surry,  and  that  belt  of  country  generally,  con- 
taining 70  to  80  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime. 


VARIETIES   OF   MIOCENE    MARL.  441 

The  different  varieties  of  miocene  marls,  which  will  now  be  more 
particularly  described,  are  not  always  separated  in  different  beds, 
but  sometimes  form  some  of  the  different  and  even  adjoining  layers 
of  the  same  bed  or  digging.  The  differences  of  colour,  &c.,  caused 
by  the  greater  or  less  quantity  of  various  accidental  ingredients, 
however  striking  to  the  eye,  are  not  often  of  much  importance  to 
the  value  of  the  marl ;  but  only  (or  principally)  such  differences  as 
are  caused  by  the  greater  or  less  proportion  of  shelly  matter,  and 
its  state  of  disintegration  and  division. 

Brownish  yellow  marl. — This  kind,  wherever  found,  always 
forms  the  highest  layers  of  the  particular  body.  That  is,  if  there 
be  layers  both  of  yellow  and  blue  marl  in  the  same  body,  the  yel- 
low is  always  above  and  the  blue  below,  and  never  in  the  reverse  po- 
sition. But  sometimes  the  yellow  continues  to  the  bottom,  and 
sometimes  the  blue  forms  the  top  as  well  as  the  bottom. 

Yellow  marl  is  usually  found  dry ;  that  is,  having  no  springs  or 
oozing  waters,  which  are  generally  reached  on  digging  lower  in  the 
body.  But  the  lower  part,  where  wet,  is  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
of  the  same  yellowish  or  dingy  white  tint,  so  as  to  make  it  manifest 
that  the  colour  is  not  dependent  on  the  degree  of  moisture  or  dry- 
ness. The  yellowish  tint  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  oxide  of  iron, 
and  is  pale  or  deep,  approaching  sometimes  to  reddish  brown,  ac- 
cording to  the  quantity  of  that  colouring  matter. 

Yellow  sandy  marl  is  the  kind  most  abundant  in  Prince  George 
county  on  and  at  some  miles  distance  from  the  banks  of  James  river, 
and  from  which  some  farms  entirely,  and  others  principally,  in  that 
neighbourhood,  have  been  marled.  It  is  of  shells  left  in  their  original 
place,  the  filling  earth  being  mostly  of  coarse  sand,  and  the  whole 
body  poor  in  calcareous  matter,  varying  in  its  proportion  usually 
from  20  to  30  per  cent,  and  rarely  richer  than  35  per  cent.  But  it 
is  of  such  open  and  loose  texture  (and  the  more  so  as  the  sand  is  the 
more  abundant),  that  this  marl  is  easily  and  cheaply  worked,  and 
the  labour  so  applied  is  therefore  often  better  compensated  than  in 
diggings  of  much  richer  marl.  In  this  variety  of  marl,  the  shells 
are  usually  entire,  or  in  large  fragments,  but  are  not  firm  or  well 
preserved.  In  some  beds,  or  thick  layers,  they  are  so  finely  reduced 
that  the  mass  seems  to  the  eye  to  be  wholly,  as  it  is  indeed  prin- 
cipally, a  body  of  silicious  sand.  From  one  bed  of  this  kind,  which 
its  proprietor  supposed  from  its  appearance  to  be  merely  silicious, 
the  earth  was  used  as  sand  to  mix  in  lime-mortar  for  masonry,  and 
it  was  found  to  serve  well  for  that  purpose.  Subsequently  this 
bed  of  sand  was  found  to  be  enough  calcareous  to  be  used  as  manure ; 
and  was  so  used,  and  to  such  good  profit,  that  the  proprietor  sup- 
posed it  to  be  rich  marl.  In  that  opinion,  however,  he  was  mis- 
taken, at  least  as  to  the  proportion  of  calcareous  contents. 

Yellow  clay  marl. — But  most  of  the  richest  as  well  as  of  the 


412  VARIETIES. 

poorest  niiocene  marls,  are  yellowish.  When  rich,  say  containing 
proportions  of  carbonate  of  lime  from  45  to  80  per  cent.,  the  marl 
is  usually  formed  of  shells  broken  down,  when  under  the  sea,  to 
small  fragments  or  to  powder,  by  the  grinding  action  of  the  water 
in  violent  motion,  and  left  afterwards  to  settle  in  stiller  water,  ac- 
cording to  the  specific  gravity.  Or  it  is  the  same  kind  of  rich  and 
finely  divided  water-borne  matter  deposited  on  and  filling  the  hol- 
lows in  and  between  whole  shells  remaining  in  their  original 
place.  In  either  case,  the  small  quantity  of  earth  first  suspended 
in  the  current,  and  then  deposited  with  the  finely  reduced  shelly 
matter,  is  mostly  if  not  entirely  clay  ;  as  silicious  sand,  having  more 
specific  weight,  could  not  be  suspended  by  the  current  so  long,  or 
carried  so  far,  before  being  deposited.  The  few  rich  clay  marls  of 
Prince  George  are  of  the  first-named  variety,  or  composed  entirely 
of  fine  fragments  of  shells  intermixed  with  clay.  The  much  richer 
marls  in  and  about  Williamsburg  are  of  the  other  kind,  there  being 
also  numerous  whole  shells  in  place,  as  well  as  the  interstices  being 
filled  almost  entirely  by  water-borne  fragments,  and  fine  powder  of 
other  shells.  The  other  contents,  making  from  15  to  25  per  cent, 
of  the  body,  are  principally  of  a  very  fine  clay  of  pale  yellow,  and 
much  less  of  silicious  or  white  quartz  sand,  oxide  of  iron,  and  a 
little  green-sand.  Much  of  the  same  kind  of  rich  marl  is  also  in 
other  parts  of  James  City  and  York,  in  the  lower  part  of  Surry, 
and  in  Isle  of  Wight,  New  Kent,  and  King  William  counties,  which 
I  have  seen — and  probably  throughout  the  middle  belt  of  the  marl 
region  of  Virginia.  There  has  been  little  or  none  of  this  rich  clay 
marl  seen  by  me  in  the  upper  range  of  marl  counties  (those  next 
the  falls  of  the  rivers),  and  not  much  more  near  to  the  eastern 
limits,  or  next  to  where  the  marl  dips  so  deeply,  as  to  disappear 
from  the  surface,  and  is  accessible  only  by  deep  digging.  Perhaps 
observations  more  extended  than  mine  have  been,  might  present 
different  conclusions. 

The  rich  marls  just  described,  when  separated  mechanically  (by 
the  sieve,  and  by  carefully  washing  in  water),  seem  to  consist,  for 
the  much  greater  part,  of  pure  shelly  matter,  mostly  in  large  or- 
small  fragments,  slightly  coloured  brown  by  oxide  of  iron,  and  the 
remainder  of  a  very  fine  and  apparently  pure  pale  yellow  clay.  But 
this  clay  is  also  composed  in  part  of  finely  divided  carbonate  of 
lime;  and  the  fine  shelly  matter  is  intermixed  with  some  silicious 
sand  and  a  little  green-sand.  The  bed  of  marl  near  Surry  Court 
House  (which  is  similar  to  the  marl  at  most  other  places  thereabout) 
is  of  this  kind  and  general  character ;  and  from  it,  a  large  body  of 
land  has  been  manured  with  great  benefit.  This  body  of  marl  was 
reputed,  upon  the  authority  of  the  State  Geological  Surveyor,  to  be 
among  the  richest  in  green-sand.  From  a  much  larger  sample  of 
the  marl  of  this  bed,  carefully  selected  by  the  proprietor,  at  my  re- 


RICHEST   MIOCENE   MARLS.  443 

quest,  and  for  my  examination,  an  average  portion  taken  was  com- 
posed as  follows  : — 

1780  grains,  separated  mechanically,  by  the  sieve  and  by  washing 
and  subsidence  in  water,  consisted  of 

Carbonate    Fine  argillaceous    Silicious    Green-sand, 
of  lime.  qaxth.  sand. 

1036  grains  of  shells  and  coarse 
fragments,  nearly  pure,  and 
so  counted,     -        -  1036 

433  grains  of  fine  shelly  frag- 
ments, &c.,  which  consisted 

of  2G8        -        -        -        120  45 

277  grains  fine  yellow  clay,  &c, 

which  consisted  of  65  212 

34  loss  in  the  process. 

1780                                                 1369               212                120  45 
Which  may  be  stated  of  parts  to  the  hundred.,  thus  : 

100  grains  of  marl  oontained  of  carbonate  of  lime,         -  77  grains, 

Silicious  or  quartz  sand,  very  pure  and  white,         -  6|     " 

Green-sand,            ...__._.  2£     " 
Fine  yellow  clay  or  argillaceous  earth  (and  the  loss  in 

the  latter  process),              --.-.—  13  J     «< 

100       « 

The  richest  bodies  of  these  marls  show  very  few  shells,  or  even 
fragments,  and  have  a  homogeneous  texture  and  appearance  to  the 
eye,  like  a  very  impure  chalk  or  sandy  clay.  Such  marls  are 
found  in  James  City,  New  Kent,  King  William,  and  Middlesex 
counties.  The  following  are  some  of  them  of  which  I  have  analyzed 
specimens  : — 

FROM 

King  William,  (Lipscomb's  land) — 82  pr.  ct.  of  carbonate  of  lime. 

"  (Slaughter's  land)— 88       "  "  " 

New  Kent,        (Mount  Prospect)— 88      "  «  « 

Middlesex,  (Oaks'  land)— 83      "  «  " 

Most  of  these  marls  are  soft  enough  to  be  used  for  manure  as 
dug  from  the  pits ;  but  the  hardest  lumps  may  need  burning  to 
lime.  Any  marl  hard  enough  to  need  burning,  and  as  rich 
as  85  per  cent.,  will  make  good  lime  for  cement,  as  well  as  for 
manure. 

Under  a  peculiar  combination  of  circumstances,  the  great  rich- 
ness of  some  marls  operates  to  lessen  the  value  of  the  body  as  ma- 
nure. Rain-water,  when  just  fallen,  always  contains  come  carbonic 
acid,  which  admixture  causes  it  to  be  a  solvent  of  carbonate  of  lime, 
When  rain-water  then  can  descend  by  percolation  into  rich  dry 
marl,  in  its  passage  it  dissolves  some  of  the  calcareous  matter, 


444  CRYSTALLIZATION   OF   MARL. 

■which  is  again  left  solid,  and  in  crystals,  by  the  slow  evaporation 
of  the  fluid.  These  crystals  of  carbonate  of  lime  are  slowly  added 
to  by  every  recurrence  of  the  like  causes,  until  the  cavities  of  large 
shells,  and  other  openings  into  which  the  water  had  settled,  are 
completely  filled  with  crystallization.  If  layers  of  marl,  less  per- 
vious to  water  than  in  general,  oppose  the  descent  of  the  water,  the 
crystallization  forms  in  connected  horizontal  layers,  separated  by 
the  thicker  layers  of  softer  marl.  Such  crystallized  layers  are 
found  abundantly  in  the  very  rich  marl  in  the  cliffs  at  Yorktown, 
serving  by  their  stony  hardness  to  impair  the  otherwise  great  value 
of  the  manure.  At  Belfield,  Col.  Robert  McCandlish's  farm,  a  few 
miles  higher  on  York  river,  the  hollows  of  large  shells  have  been 
filled  with  beautiful  and  brilliant  crystals  thus  formed.  In  Surry 
also,  on  the  land  of  the  late  William  Jones,  such  crystallization  is 
abundant.  For  such  effect  to  be  produced,  there  are  several  con- 
ditions necessary.  The  superincumbent  earth  must  be  of  open 
texture,  and  not  very  thick — or  rain-water  could  not  pass  through. 
It  must  not  be  a  hill-side — as  the  water  would  flow  off  the  surface 
and  not  penetrate  to  the  marl.  And  the  marl  must  be  dry — or 
evaporation  could  not  take  place,  and,  of  course,  crystallization 
could  not. 

Gloucester,  though  one  of  the  outside  marl  counties  to  the  east, 
is  most  abundantly  supplied  with  marl,  accessible  on  almost  every 
farm,  whether  of  high  or  of  low  grounds.  It  is  generally  of  the 
poorer  yellow  kind.  But  three  marked  exceptions  were  seen, 
which  as  such  deserve  to  be  named.  One  is  the  rich  clay  marl 
forming  the  north  bank  of  Ware  river  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Alexan- 
der Taliaferro.  Another  is  the  general  sub-soil  (as  it  may  be  con- 
sidered from  its  position)  of  the  lowest  land  of  the  farm  of  3Ir. 
Jefferson  Sinclair,  near  the  mouth  of  Severn  river.  This  is  an  al- 
most pure  body  of  coarse  shelly  powder,  or  fragments,  seldom  found 
larger  than  two  or  three  grains  in  weight,  and  a  very  few  shells,  of 
as  minute  size,  entire  enough  to  be  distinguished.  This  mass  of 
shelly  matter  is  as  loose  and  incohesive  as  coarse  sand,  yet  is  tinged 
slightly  with  green  by  the  admixture  of  greenish  clay.  A  speci- 
men analyzed  contained  72  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime.  (See 
more  full  account  at  page  181,  vol.  vi.  Farmers'  Register).  The 
third  is  the  marl  used  by  Capt.  P.  E.  Tabb,  and  dug  from  beneath 
the  low  grounds  on  North  river.  It  is  a  mass  of  pulverized  shells, 
coloured  by  red  or  brown  oxide  of  iron.* 

Blue  marl. — This  is  the  most  common  kind  in  the  upper  range, 
or  near  the  western  limits  of  the  great  marl  deposit.     Thereabout, 

*  This  is  the  marl  so  abundant,  and  of  easy  access,  on  Toddsburv.  the 
property  and  residence  of  the  deceased  Pfcilip  Tabb  ;  and  of  which  marl  the 
value  as  manure  had  not  been  tried,  or  suspected,  by  that  experienced  and 
deservedly  distinguished  farmer,  during  his  long  life  on  that  farm. 


BLUE    MARL.  445 

blue  marl  usually  forms  the  whole  thickness  of  the  bed.  More 
eastward,  and  lower  down  the  country,  it  sometimes  forms  the 
whole  of  low-lying  beds,  but  more  usually  only  the  lower  layers  of  a 
bed,  of  which  the  upper  part  is  yellow. 

Blue  marl  is  generally  such  as  remains  "in  place,"  or  where  the 
shells  were  left  by  the  death  of  the  enclosed  animals,  and  the  inter- 
mixed earth  is  mostly  silicious  sand ;  and  therefore  (and  not  because 
of  its  colour),  this  marl  is  rarely  found  as  rich  as  45  per  cent.,  and 
is  still  more  rarely  equal  to  the  yellow  clay  marls,  though  generally 
richer  than  the  yellow  sandy  marls. 

Blue  marl  in  the  bed  is  always  wet,  being  made  so  by  water 
slowly  oozing  from  every  part,  though  seldom  fast  anywhere,  or 
showing  springs  or  veins  of  running  water.  The  blue  colour  is  not 
caused  by  moisture  (for  some  yellow  marls  are  also  permanently 
wet),  but  by  vegetable  extract  or  other  dark-coloured  organic  mat- 
ter, brought  in  the  percolating  water.  This  inference  I  have  drawn 
from  extensive  observation  of  the  natural  beds,  and  also  from  seve- 
ral accurate  though  accidental  experiments,  of  which  the  first  that 
was  observed  will  be  here  stated.  A  small  stable  yard  was  covered 
6  to  10  inches  thick  with  a  rich  dry  yellow  marl,  for  the  purpose 
of  retaining  by  chemical  combination  the  juices  of  the  putrescent 
manure  which  was  to  be  thrown  there  from  the  stable.  After  re- 
maining for  this  use  a  year  or  more,  this  flooring  of  marl  was  dug 
up  and  carried  out  for  manure ;  when  it  was  found  to  be  changed 
in  colour  to  a  deep  and  vivid  blue,  and  precisely  like  the  natural 
colour  and  appearance  of  the  under-stratum  of  the  same  body  of 
marl,  which  being  an  open  and  almost  pure  mass  of  pulverized  (and 
water-borne)  fragments  of  shells,  was  readily  penetrated  by  and 
always  full  of  water.  A  general  fact  confirming  this  view  is  that 
all  marls  found  lying  immediately  under  swampy  soils,  full  of 
vegetable  matter,  are  blue.  And  this  colouring  vegetable  matter 
in  marl  is  not  merely  intermixed  with,  but  must  be  held  in  chemi- 
cal combination  by  the  calcareous  matter;  and  serves,  according  to 
its  quantity,  in  blue  marls,  as  an  addition  to  the  fertilizing  power 
of  the  calcareous  matter  alone.  The  particular  body  of  marl  above 
referred  to,  the  under-stratum  of  which  is  the  most  marked  or  vivid 
blue  ever  seen  in  marl,  is  at  Shellbanks  farm,  Prince  George,  and 
from  which  I  dug  and  applied  a  large  quantity.  The  greater  part, 
and  all  the  richest  layers,  seemed  to  be  of  shells  broken  down  to  a 
coarse  powder,  or  of  sizes  less  than  fine  gravel,  through  which  clear 
water  rose  and  passed  so  freely  as  to  forbid  digging  to  the  bottom. 
The  small  quantity  of  clay  or  other  earth  intermixed  with  the  cal- 
careous earth  of  this  marl  is  altogether  insufficient  to  hold  so 'much 
colouring  matter ;  and  moreover,  if  the  colouring  matter  were  not 
chemically  combined  with  the  calcareous,  the  continued  free  pas- 
sage of  water  must  have  dissolved  and  washed  off  any  uncombined 
38 


446  BLUE   MARL. 

vegetable  extract.  This  whole  body  of  marl,  both  the  dry  and  yel- 
low lying  at  top,  as  well  as  the  blue  and  wet  below,  was  all  brought 
and  deposited  by  currents,  as  is  manifest  by  the  different  layers  of 
different  specifi«  gravity,  and  still  more  by  the  many  intervening 
layers  of  a  fine  calcareous  clay  (before  mentioned),  which  may  be 
considered  as  the  true  marl  of  mineralogy,  though  in  very  small 
quantity.  Analyses  were  carefully  made  of  every  different  quality, 
and  the  results  may  be  interesting  as  showing  how  much  one  layer 
may  vary  from  the  one  next  adjoining;  and  different  specimens  not 
more  than  a  few  inches  of  perpendicular  distance  apart. 

Upper  dry  part,  yellow,  and  loose  as  sand,  varying 
(by  unevenness  of  surface)  from  8  to  7  feet,  con- 
tained of  carbonate  of  lime         .         .         .         .53  per  cent. 

Xext  layer  below,  brownish  yellow,  through  which 

water  passes,  ......     25         " 

About  12  inches  lower,  in  the  blue,        .         .         .64         u 
u       u      u  "         "         u  another  specimen 

below        ...-.  .     69         '< 

Layers  of  clay  marl,  interspersed  through  the  above       9         " 

And  in  a  subsequent  digging,  the  strength  of  four  specimens  of 
the  blue  part  of  the  marl  was  as  follows : — 

In  the  first  foot  depth  of  blue  under-stratum         .  32  per  cent. 

In  the  second  foot  33         " 

At  3|  feet 76         " 

At  4  feet,  and  lowest  digging  then  effected  .  70         " 

It  may  readily  be  inferred,  from  these  various  results,  that  if 
one  or  two  specimens  only  had  been  analyzed,  and  these  taken  with 
no  more  care  than  is  commonly  used,  that  a  very  deceptious  report 
would  have  been  furnished  from  making  even  the  most  accurate 
analyses. 

Conchologists  and  geologists,  who  have  treated  so  much  of  marls, 
but  merely  in  reference  to  the  shells  they  furnish,  or  to  their 
geological  character,  speak  of  the  blue  marl  as  formed  by  shells 
being  imbedded  in  a  blue  day.  But  the  earth  is  not  generally  a 
clay,  nor  anything  even  approaching  to  a  clay,  but  is  mostly  of 
silicious  sand.  The  ordinary  blue  marl  contains  usually  from  three 
to  four  times  as  much  pure  and  separable  silicious  sand  as  of  clay. 
From  various  specimens  of  two  diggings  in  such  marl,  from  which 
more  than  300  acres  were  marled  of  the  Coggins  Point  farm,  the 
following  results  were  found  by  analysis  : — 

Yellow  marl  (wet)  thin  layer  at  top,  contained  of  car- 
bonate of  lime  .......         24  grains. 


BLUE   MARL.  447 

Within  24  inches  of  top,  shelly  matter  finely  divided,  and  the 
mass  uniform  dull  blue  colour,  100  grains  contained : 

Carbonate  of  lime, 34  grains. 

White  silicious  sand,  .         .  .         .  47      " 

Clay,  black  when  moist,  and  dark  gray  when  dried,  19      " 

100 
Of  similar  blue  marl  from  another  pit  in  the  same  body,  100 
grains  contained : 
Carbonate  of  lime,        ......         34  grains. 

Silicious  sand,  ......         52      " 

Clay, 14      « 

100 
Of  another  specimen  from  the  same,  and  of  similar 

marl,  100  grains  contained  of  carbonate  of  lime,  29      u 

At  6  feet  deep  (the  shell  not  much  reduced),  carbo- 
nate of  lime      .......         44      " 

At  13  feet  deep,  and  one  foot  from  bottom,     .  .         33      " 

Some  few  hard  lumps  of  conglomerated  shells  and 

earth  scattered  through  the  general  mass,  .         73      " 

From  a  digging  at  three-fourths  of  a  mile  distant,  of  marl  of  the 
same  appearance  and  believed  to  be  the  same  body  as  the  preceding, 
the  general  average  of  strength,  as  obtained  from  several  trials  at 
different  depths,  was  in  100  grains  of  marl,  35  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
The  thickness  of  this  body,  where  penetrated,  varied  from  11  to  14 
feet ;  where  there  was  a  marked  lessening,  though  not  entire  ab- 
sence of  shelly  matter,  and  increase  of  silicious  sand  of  the  same 
blue  tint.  The  deeper  removal  was  stopped  because  of  the  obvious 
poverty,  and  no  further  examination  of  more  than  a  foot  or  two  in 
depth  was  made  in  this  poor  substratum.  In  but  few  of  all  the 
various  diggings  made  by  myself,  or  of  others  heard  of,  has  the  bot- 
tom of  the  marl  been  reached — though  in  many,  and  most  generally 
when  penetrated  deeply  enough,  it  becomes  so  poor  as  to  be  not 
worth  the  labour  of  removing.  In  most  of  the  few  known  cases, 
when  digging  the  marl  for  manure,  that  the  bottom  of  the  miocene 
was  reached,  the  stratum  below  was  of  eocene  green-sand  earth,  or 
eocene  marl.  In  digging  a  well,  at  Shellbanks,  my  then  residence, 
after  passing  through  a  bed  of  firm  blue  marl,  of  broken  (or  water- 
worn)  shells,  obviously  the  same  kind  dug  at  another  place  for  ma- 
nure, and  described  at  page  445,  a  soft  brown  sand  was  reached, 
apparently  destitute  of  calcareous  matter,  and  from  which  rose  an 
abundant  supply  of  pure  and  soft  water  to  the  height  of  13  feet, 
which  stood  altogether  in  this  blue  marl,  without  its  purity  being 
affected  either  by  the  calcareous  matter  of  the  marl,  or  its  colour- 


448  LOSS    01   CALCAREOUS    MATTER. 

ing  matter.  The  continued  purity  of  this  -water  is  an  additional 
proof  that  the  blue  colouring  matter  is  chemically  combined  with 
the  carbonate  of  lime — and  the  combination  u  a  visible  illustra- 
tion of  the  manner  in  which  marl  holds  to  and  fixes  putrescent 
manures. 

Mr.  William  Carniichael,  of  Queen  Ann's  county,  Maryland,  an 
intelligent  agriculturist,  and  an  experienced  and  observant  marler, 
is  of  opinion  that  there  is  a  perceptible  superiority  of  effect  of  blue 
marls  over  others  of  equal  (and  even  greater)  strength  in  calcareous 
matter.  (Farmers'  Eegister,  vol.  vii.  p.  106.)  This  superiority 
of  effect  probably  is  caused  by  the  vegetable  or  other  putrescent  and 
alimentary  matter  being  combined  with  the  calcareous,  and  by  its 
presence  giving  colour  to  the  blue  marl.  And  that  the  blue  colour 
is  thus  produced  is  fully  proved  by  the  facts  stated  at  page  445, 
and  by  my  more  general  observation. 

Excepting  then  the  additional  value  in  the  vegetable  extract 
•which  gives  the  colour,  there  is  no  difference  between  the  blue  and 
the  yellow  marls,  other  than  the  difference,  as  of  any  marls  of  simi- 
lar colour,  in  their  respective  amounts  of  calcareous  matter.  And 
the  same  may  be  said  of  wet  and  dry  marls,  which  are  generally, 
but  not  always,  distinguished  by  the  above  colours ;  and  also  of  any 
other  miocene  marls,  excepting  for  such  small  proportion  of  u  green- 
sand"  as  is  sometimes  present.  But  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
wet  marls,  in  many  cases,  have  lost  some  of  their  ancient  strength, 
by  the  continued  though  very  slow  percolation  and  subsequent  dis- 
charge of  water  through  the  mass.  If  recent  rain-water  penetrates 
wet  marl,  it  dissolves  some  carbonate  of  lime  (by  means  of  the  car- 
bonic acid  in  the  rain-water) ;  and,  as  the  water  slowly  flows  off,  or 
oozes  out,  instead  of  being  evaporated,  the  dissolved  lime  is  washed 
into  the  nearest  stream,  and  is  lost,  instead  of  being  left,  crystal- 
lized or  otherwise,  as  in  dry  marl.  Again — if  water  flows  over 
having  sulphate  of  iron  (copperas)  in  solution,  (which  is  not  a  very 
rare  case,)  that  dissolved  salt  acts  with  the  carbonate  of  lime  to 
produce  the  decomposition  of  both  the  sulphate  of  iron  and  the 
carbonate  of  lime,  and  from  two  of  their  component  parts  to  form 
sulphate  of  lime.  And  as  this  is  slightly  soluble  in  water,  it  must 
be  carried  off  by  the  slowly  oozing  water,  as  long  as  any  of  these 
new  salts  remain.  In  this  case,  the  carbonic  acid  is  evolved,  and 
the  iron  is  precipitated — and  often  fills,  or  coats  the  interior  of  the 
spaces  before  filled  by  the  shells  which  this  chemical  process  had 
decomposed  and  removed.  This  effect,  when  produced,  is  seen  at 
the  upper  part  of  the  marl,  where  the  copperas  water  first  touches 
the  shelly  matter.  In  Henrico,  near  the  western  limit  of  the  marl, 
and  in  Hanover,  more  eastward,  there  is  generally  over  the  pre- 
sent .highest  shells  a  body  of  earth  of  colour  and  general  appear- 
ance very  similar  to  the  marl  below,  and  full  of  hollow  impressions 


COMPARATIVE   VALUES   OP   MIOCENE   MARLS.  449 

of  shells,  though  no  shelly  nor  even  any  calcareous  matter  now 
remains.  In  other  marls,  there  is  often  seen  an  upper  layer 
coloured  brown  by  this  deposit  of  iron.  Both  these  are  different 
modes  of  the  same  operation ;  the  waters  charged  with  sulphate  of 
iron  having  in  the  latter  case  decomposed  and  removed  but  part, 
and  in  the  former  all  the  calcareous  matter,  to  some  depth  below 
the  former  top  of  the  stratum  of  marl.  The  marl,  in  the  upper 
part  of  which  the  shells  have  been  thus  dissolved  and  removed, 
has  a  decided  sulphureous  odour,  which  is  left  very  perceptible  on 
the  hands,  after  handling  the  marl  as  dug;  and  this  odour  is  still 
more  manifest  in  the  marl  when  it  has  been  dug  and  thrown  out, 
and  exposed  some  days  to  the  weather.  Such  marl  is  within  a  few 
miles  of  Richmond,  at  Dr.  Chamberlayne's  and  Col.  C.  W.  Gooch's 
farms.     It  is  poor  in  calcareous  matter. 

The  comparative  values  of  marls  are  fixed  by  the  comparative 
proportions  of  carbonate  of  lime  contained,  other  circumstances 
being  alike ;  yet  if  these  other  circumstances  are  very  different, 
they  may  make  a  marl  containing  but  25  per  cent,  worth  more 
than  another  of  50  per  cent.  The  more  finely  reduced,  or  the  more 
soft  the  shells,  the  quicker  the  action  will  be,  and  the  more  profita- 
ble the  marling.  But  all  the  white  shells,  however  hard  and 
entire  when  applied,  are  dissolved  in  a  few  years,  if  the  soil  really 
needs  so  much  lime — that  is  (according  to  my  views),  if  there  be 
acid  of  soil  enough  to  combine  with  the  lime.  But  the  gray  or 
slate-coloured  shells  seem  to  be  insoluble  and  almost  indestructible, 
and  do  very  little  good  as  manure.  These  shells  are  the  several 
species  of  scallop  (pecten)  and  of  fossil  oyster  (estreat),  and  some 
few  others,  all  fortunately  being  but  in  small  proportion  compared 
to  the  numerous  white  and  softer  shells.  Some  beds  of  marl, 
however,  or  layers,  have  mostly  these  hard  shells,  and  therefore 
are  worth  very  little  compared  to  what  their  chemical  analysis 
would  indicate. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  speak  otherwise  than  very  concisely  as  to 
the  practical  applications  and  effects  of  miocene  shell  marl ;  for 
this  is  the  kind  in  general  use  throughout  lower  Virginia  and  Mary- 
laud,  and  to  such  small  extent  as  has  been  used  in  North  Carolina, 
and  therefore  the  operation  is  well  known.  All  the  usual  and 
general  and  highly  beneficial  effects  of  marl  known,  with  but  few 
exceptions  in  the  limited  districts  of  eocene  marl  (hereafter  to  be 
described),  are  due  to  the  miocene  marls.  And  of  such  effects 
there  have  been  numerous  statements,  general  and  particular.  The 
operation  of  the  eocene  marls,  and  especially  those  largely  mixed 
with  "  green-sand,"  is  different,  and  superior ;  but  their  use  has 
been  so  limited,  and  so  few  statements  of  effects  published,  that 
nearly  all  the  particular  results  and  general  statements  of  effects 
38* 


450  EOCENE   MARL. 

yet  laid  before  the  public,  in  the  "Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures" 
or  elsewhere,  have  been  in  relation  to  the  uiiocene  marls. 

My  personal  examinations  of  marl,  in  place,  have  not  been  ex- 
tended to  the  Rappahannock.  From  such  information  as  has 
reached  me,  I  infer  that  the  marls  of  that  basin  are  generally  much 
poorer  in  calcareous  matter  than  those  of  the  basins  of  James 
river,  York,  Mobjack  bay,  and  Piankatuck  river. 

Eocene  Marl. 

(c)  Calcareous  marl,  containing  but  little  grecn-zand. — The  ex- 
istence in  Virginia  of  the  marl  now  known  as  eocene,  was  first  dis- 
covered in  1819  by  myself,  in  the  south  bank  of  James  river,  un- 
derlying the  promontory  of  Coggins  Point ;  and  in  the  same  year 
it  was  tried  as  manure.  The  texture  and  general  appearance  of 
this  marl  were  obviously  peculiar;  and  its  effects  as  manure  were 
soon  also  observed  to  be  in  some  measure  different  from  and  supe- 
rior to  those  of  the  other  marls,  which  I  had  then  used,  and  which 
were  all  of  the  kind  now  distinguished  as  miocene.  At  that  time 
these  terms  had  not  been  introduced,  and  for  perhaps  fifteen  years 
afterwards,  I  did  not  so  much  as  hear  of  the  terms  "  eocene"  and 
"miocene;"  but  the  difference  of  age,  appearance,  and  agricultural 
character  of  the  two  kinds  were  not  therefore  the  less  evident  and 
obvious  to  my  uninstructed  observation.  The  manifest  difference 
of  effect,  as  manure,  was  then  ascribed  by  me  to  the  general  if  not 
universal  presence  of  a  small  proportion  of  sulphate  of  lime,  or 
gypsum,  in  the  eocene  marl.  The  belief  in  the  general  presence 
of  gypsum  was  very  early  induced  by  my  seeing  in  a  few  places 
small  crystals  overlying  and  in  contact  with  the  surface  of  the  bed 
of  marl ;  and  also  by  the  apparent  results  of  such  poor  attempts 
as  I  subsequently  made  to  ascertain  the  presence  of  this  substance, 
by  means  of  chemical  tests.  Upon  such  imperfect  trials,  and  the 
still  more  imperfect  knowledge  and  skill  which  I  could  apply  to  the 
investigation,  very  little  reliance  ought  to  have  been  placed.  Never- 
theless. I  thence  inferred  that  there  was  universally  present  and 
diffused  through  the  body  of  this  marl  a  small  proportion  of  sul- 
phate of  lime,  and  subsequent  agricultural  practice  has  supplied 
the  confirmation,  which  has  not  yet  been  sought  for  by  the  supe- 
rior chemical  knowledge  and  skill  of  any  other  and  later  investi- 
gator. In  the  earliest  publication  of  my  views  on  calcareous  ma- 
nures in  1821,  the  gypseous  character  of  this  particular  body  of 
marl  was  affirmed,  and  the  peculiar  character  of,  the  results  of  the 
first  experiments  with  it  stated.*  And  in  the  edition  of  1832  of 
the  "Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures,"  the  general  and  full  deserip- 

*  American  Farmer,  vol.  iii.,  p.  817,  and  also  the  same  experiments  num- 
bered 18,  19,  20,  of  the  present  edition  of  "Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures." 


EOCENE   MARL   OP    COGQINS    POINT.  451 

tion  of  this  marl  was  given  precisely  as  it  now  stands  in  pages  144, 
145,  of  the  latest  edition.  My  still  earlier  discovery  of  and  ob- 
servations upon  the  peculiar  character  of  the  underlying  bed  of 
gypseous  or  "green-sand"  earth  (which  will  be  treated  of  subse- 
quently), led  me  to  observe  the  peculiarities  of  the  eocene  marl, 
which  being  less  distinctly  marked,  might  otherwise  have  escaped 
my  notice. 

As  stated  above,  it  was  not  from  any  knowledge  of  geological 
theories  of  successive  formations,  and  diifercnt  ages  and  periods, 
of  all  which  I  was  profoundly  ignorant,  that  my  opinion  of  the 
peculiar  character  of  this  marl  was  influenced.  But  judging 
solely  from  the  more  rotten  and  disintegrated  state  of  the  shells, 
and  their  entire  disappearance  generally,  even  though  their  calca- 
reous material  remains — and  from  the  total  difference  of  kind  of 
the  few  shells  remaining  whole,  or  of  which  the  shape  is  distinctly 
marked,  from  any  others  of  the  many  shells  then  known  to  me  in 
any  other  marls,  I  very  early  formed  the  opinion  that  this  bed  was 
one  of  the  remains  or  ruins  of  a  condition  of  the  earth  much  more 
ancient  than  that  in  which  the  ordinary  marls  had  been  formed. 
I  remember  having  stated  this  opinion  to  one  of  the  earliest  of  the 
several  geologists  who  at  different  times  visited  my  dwelling-place 
and  my  marl  excavations.  This  was  the  since  notorious  Feather- 
stonhaugh,  to  whom  I  pointed  out  this  curious  and  to  me  highly 
interesting  deposit,  and  directed  his  attention  to  the  more  modern 
and  very  different  (miocene)  marl  lying  immediately  upon  and  in 
close  contaot  with  the  much  more  ancient  formation  below.  This 
remarkable  feature  I  also  showed  at  a  later  time  to  Professor  "Wil- 
liam B.  Rogers,  who  was  much  struck  with  the  fact,  and  attached 
so  much  importance  to  it,  that  he  has  referred  to  it  in  several  of 
his  subsequent  publications. 

The  most  ready  and  certain  mode  of  distinguishing  eocene  marl, 
is  by  reference  to  some  of  the  shells  belonging  to  this  kind,  and 
which  are  never  found  in  miocene  marls.  There  are  many  such  ; 
but  the  most  common  and  well  marked  are  the  tvro  following  :  1st. 
The  card ita  plan  icosta,  a  bivalve  white  shell,  having  numerous  re- 
gularly formed  flat  ridges  running  from  the  point  at  the  hinge  of 
the  valves  to  the  circumference  of  the  outer  or  opening  parts,  and 
widening  as  the  ridges  extend — both  valves  alike,  and  having  out- 
lines approaching  to  circular — sometimes  seen  four  inches  across, 
and  the  connected  valves  two  inches  through  ;  but  generally  of 
much  smaller  and  various  sizes.  2d.  The  oatrea  s^Ua/ormis,  or  sad- 
dle oyster,  a  curiously  and  variously  contorted  gray  and  very  hard 
bivalve  shell,  the  larger  valve  of  which  approaches  the  shape  and 
reversed  curves  of  a  saddle.  This  shell  is  sometimes  found  more 
than  five  inches  in  length.  Both  of  these  shells  are  abundant, 
especially  the  cardita  planicosta}  in  this  particular  bed  of  eocene 


452  EOCENE   MARL. 

inarl,  and  also  in  the  upper  part  of  all  the  other  eocene  marls  since 
known  elsewhere  in  Virginia.  Without  reference  to  these,  or  to 
some  other  characteristic  shells,  the  eocene  marl  might  not  always 
be  distinguishable  by  its  texture  or  general  appearance  from  the 
miocene.  And  even  these  two  shells,  the  most  abundant  and 
characteristic  of  the  eocene  formation  generally,  are  neither  to  be 
found  in  the  lower  layers  of  any  bed  that  I  have  been  enabled  to 
examine. 

For  some  years  after  the  first  discovery  and  application  of  this 
calcareous  eocene  marl  on  Coggins  Point  farm,  it  was  not  known 
to  exist  elsewhere.  For  even  where  then  visible,  and  at  later  times 
used,  its  different  character  was  neither  known  nor  suspected  by 
its  proprietors.  As  chance  furnished  to  me  opportunities  of  seeing 
the  beds,  or  as  small  specimens  of  the  marl  were  sent  to  me  for 
examination,  I  gradually  came  to  know  the  greater  extent  of  this 
bed.  It  is  now  known  at  various  points  in  an  area  of  about  twelve 
miles  in  length,  from  east  to  west,  and  eight  or  ten  miles  wide, 
which  area  takes  in  parts  of  the  counties  of  Prince  George  (which 
has  much  the  larger  known  portion),  Charles  City,  and  the  lower 
point  of  Chesterfield.  And  in  this  area  also  is  the  broad  bed  of 
James  river,  and  the  lower  parts  of  its  tributaries,  Appomattox 
river,  and  Bailey's,  Powell's,  and  Herring  creeks.  The  marl  is 
exposed  to  view  on  the  southern  side  of  James  river,  at  the  fol- 
lowing several  points  :  Coggins  Point,  Maycox  (a  mile  below,  and 
the  most  eastern  exposure  as  yet  known),  Tarbay,  Wm.  H.  Harri- 
son's farm,  and  Beaver  Castle,  all  above  on  the  river — Eelbank 
and  Hawksnest  (the  most  southern  exposure),  on  Powell's  creek — 
the  Old  Court  House  tract  and  Spring  Garden  farm,  both  on  Bai- 
ley's creek,  and  the  latter  from  one  to  two  miles  above  the  head 
of  its  tide,  and  three  miles  south  of  the  Appomattox  where  oppo- 
site. The  last  is  the  most  western  exposure.  On  the  northern 
side  of  the  Appomattox,  it  is  seen  in  the  river  bank  at  Bermuda 
Hundred,  and  north  of  James  river,  and  of  Herring  creek,  at 
Neston  and  Evelynton. 

Through  nearly  all  this  large  area,  this  bed  of  marl  preserves 
remarkable  uniformity  of  appearance,  texture,  chemical  character 
and  composition,  and  even  of  the  thickness  of  the  stratum,  and 
of  the  succession  and  variations  of  character  of  the  several  smaller 
layers  of  the  general  body.  The  bed  lies  nearly  horizontal,  but 
dips  slightly  and  irregularly  eastward  and  northward.  At  Coggins 
Point,  its  lower  part  is  10  to  12  feet  above  high  tide,  while  at 
Maycox,  a  mile  to  the  east,  and  at  Evelynton,  three  miles  north,  it 
is  lower  than  high  tide  mark.  Yet  not  so  much  difference  of  ele- 
vation as  this  is  seen  in  all  the  greater  extension  westward  to 
Bermuda  Hundred.  The  stratum  varies  from  4  to  10  feet  thick, 
being   thinnest   at   its   south-western   exposure,   Spring  Garden, 


EOCENE   MARL.  453 

and  thickest  at  the  north-eastern,  Neston  and  Evelyntou.  At 
Coggins  Point,  where  traced  along  the  face  of  the  river  cliff  con- 
tinuously for  more  than  half  a  mile,  it  is  usually  6  feet  thick, 
never  more  than  8,  and  never  less  than  4  feet,  except  where 
terminating.  The  general  and  almost  uniform  colour  is  a  pale 
dingy  yellow.  The  few  shells  remaining  are  not  perceptible  with- 
out careful  observation,  and  the  whole  mass,  when  dug  down  for 
use,  is  scarcely  distinguishable  from  many  common  and  barren 
sub-soils,  or  clay  river  cliffs,  of  like  colour.  Two  thin  but  con- 
tinuous and  separate  layers  of  almost  stony  hardness  extend 
through  the  whole  bed.  These  contain  from  85  to  90  per  cent. 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  may  be  burnt  to  excellent  quick-lime 
for  cement.  The  marl  intervening  with  these  hard  layers  is  simi- 
lar to  them  in  colour  and  general  appearance ;  but  is  quite  soft  and 
mellow  in  handling,  and  in  that  respect  differs  from  all  other  known 
marls.  The  very  uniform  calcareous  proportion  of  this  part  is 
about  53  per  cent. ;  and  taking  an  equal  section  of  the  whole 
thickness  of  the  bed,  and  with  the  greatest  care  to  obtain  a  fair 
average  sample,  the  strength  in  carbonate  of  lime  was  found  to  be 
62  per  cent.  This  is  far  less  of  calcareous  mattervthan  is  con- 
tained by  many  miocene  marls  which  show  less  effect  than  this  as 
manure.  But  besides  its  calcareous  matter,  this  eocene  marl  has 
some  little  gypsum,  some  kind  of  saline  matter  which  cattle  are 
fond  of  licking  (believed  to  be  sulphate  of  alumina)  and  some 
amount  of  the  granules  of  "green-sand" — and  more  of  this  than 
most  of  the  miocene  marls.  The  other  earth  of  this  marl  is  mostly 
of  yellowish  clay,  and  composed  more  of  argillaceous  than  sili- 
cious  matter.  I  confess  that  all  these  additional  ingredients,  toge- 
gether,  do  not  seem  to  me  sufficient  to  account  for  the  superiority 
which  this  marl  exhibits  as  manure. 

Though  this  peculiar  kind  of  marl  was  so  early  known,  and  its 
value  appreciated,  and,  though  it  underlies  the  whole  of  Coggins 
Point ,  yet  it  is  covered  there  s&  deeply  by  the  overlying  earth,  and 
is  therefore  so  difficult  to  work  extensively,  and,  moreover,  is  so 
distant  from  the  main  body  of  the  farm,  that  this  has  not  been 
applied  to  more  than  65  acres,  out  of  some  700  marled  on  that 
farm.  Other  proprietors  have  elsewhere  made  much  more  extensive 
applications  of  this  marl.  The  peculiar  effects  of  this  kind  of  marl 
were  tested  with  the  most  accuracy  by  Messrs.  Collier  H.  Minge, 
then  of  Walnut  Hill,  and  Hill  Carter,  of  Shirley ;  both  of  whom 
used  this  marl  from  Coggins  Point,  water-borne  to  distances  of 
twelve  and  fifteen  miles.  Though  the  marl  was  given  to  them  (in 
the  bed),  it  was  yet  very  costly  in  the  labour  of  digging  and  trans- 
portation ;  and  therefore  they  used  it  with  strict  economy,  and 
carefully  estimated  the  results.     But  highly  as  they  both  thought 


454  EOCENE   MARL. 

of,  and  have  reported  the  effects,*  in  comparison  with  either  lime 
or  miocene  marls,  the  expense  and  trouble  were  so  great,  that  it  is 
now  considered  by  some  of  the  most  judicious  farmers  on  the  tide- 
water rivers,  that  they  can  better  afford  to  buy  stone-lime,  at  its 
present  low  price  (8  to  10  cents  the  bushel),  than  to  transport 
marl  of  any  kind  by  water.  This,  however,  is  an  erroneous  esti- 
mate. A  bushel  of  such  marl  is  worth  more  as  manure,  than  a 
bushel  of  slaked  lime  (though  slower  in  operation),  and  can  be 
transported  twenty  to  forty  miles  by  water,  and  delivered  for  4 
cents  the  bushel. 

Since  the  foregoing  pages  were  written,  I  have  learned  of  two 
farther  exposures  of  this  body  of  eocene  marl.  One  is  four  miles 
north  of  Evelynton  (in  Charles  City  county),  where  the  marl  was 
reached  and  penetrated  by  the  digging  of  a  well  in  1814.  At 
about  thirty  feet  deep,  after  passing  through  the  marl,  and  a  layer 
of  rock,  water  was  reached,  which  rose  to  the  top  of  the  well,  and 
continues  to  flow  over,  forming  the  only  Artesian  well  known  in 
this  region.  The  other  locality  is  in  Henrico  county,  on  Turkey 
Island  creek,  its  eastern  boundary,  and  about  eight  miles  north  of 
City  Point.  This  marl  I  recognised  to  be  the  same,  by  a  specimen 
recently  brought  me  for  examination.  It  is  below  the  surface  of 
swampy  ground,  and  is  coloured  dark  gray.  It  is  much  fuller  of 
green-sand,  and  indeed  in  that  respect  makes  some  approach  to  the 
green-sand  marls  of  the  Pamunkey,  Of  which  the  nearest  exposure 
is  only  sixteen  miles  from  this  place.  It  is  probable  that  the  marl 
extends  continuously  from  the  one  place  to  the  other,  and  may  be 
found  throughout  the  interval  by  deep  digging.f 

(e)    The  Gypseous  Earth  or  Green  Earth  of  James  River. 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  the  next  and  only  remaining 
known  variety  of  our  marls,  the  eocene  green-sand  marl,  it  is  ne- 

*  See  Farmers'  Register,  vol.  v.,  pp.  189,  247,  511. 

f  After  the  publication  of  this  report,  I  first  learned,  from  the  examina- 
tion of  hand  specimens,  that  eocene  marl  was  exposed  on  the  new  railway 
route  between  Fredericksburg  and  the  Potomac  river.  The  specimens  ex- 
hibited to  me  were  very  hard,  and  seemed  (to  the  eye)  to  be  also  poor. 

The  most  extensive,  rich,  and  valuable  body  of  marl,  of  the  Atlantic 
States,  is  eocene,  and  which  I  first  knew,  and  then  examined  extensively, 
during  my  Agricultural  Survey  of  South  Carolina,  in  1843.  This  im- 
mense body  extends  across  lower  South  Carolina,  and  also  the  connected 
parts  of  both  North  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The  bed  is  full  300  feet  thick 
under  Charleston,  and  of  unknown  depth  elsewhere.  It  contains  usually 
from  65  to  90  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime — has  but  few  whole  or  distin- 
guishable fragments  of  shells  remaining — and  is  of  more  homogeneous 
appearance  and  firm  or  stony  texture  than  any  other  beds  of  marl. 


GYPSEOUS    EARTH   OF  JAMES   RIVER.  455 

cessary  to  treat  in  advance  and  separately  of  the  peculiar  earthy 
compound,  called  "  green-sand"  by  geological  writers,  of  which  the 
large  admixture,  and  sometimes  even  larger  proportion,  or  other- 
wise some  other  ingredient  usually  accompanying  the  green-sand, 
gives  additional  value  and  peculiar  character  and  action  to  the  greater 
number  and  quantity  of  the  eocene  marls  yet  known  in  Virginia. 
But  important  and  valuable  as  may  be  the  green-sand  in  itself,  and 
necessary  to  be  considered  in  connexion  with  the  subject  of  eocene 
marl,  with  which  it  is  so  inseparably  connected,  I  wish  especially  to 
avoid  confounding  the  two  earths  under  one  name  or  one  character ; 
and  to  be  understood  as  protesting  against  the  prevalent  error,  in 
giving  currency  to  which  scientific  writers  have  concurred  with  the 
unlearned  cultivators,  of  applying  to  the  non-calcareous  green-sand 
earth  the  name  of  "marl,"  and  thus  adding  another,  and  the  most 
important,  to  the  many  previous  misapplications  of  this  wonderfully 
misused  and  misunderstood  term.  This  misapplication  is  universal 
in  New  Jersey,  where  the  green-sand  earth  is  most  abundant,  and 
is  generally  very  rich  in  its  distinguishing  ingredient  (usually  con- 
taining 75  to  90  per  cent,  of  pure  green-sand),  and  where  this  earth 
has  been  long  and  is  now  extensively  used  as  a  manure,  and  has 
been  found  to  be  of  great  value  as  a  fertilizer.  I  shall  hereafter 
refer  to  both  the  points  of  resemblance  and  of  difference  (both  of 
which  are  important  and  interesting,)  between  this  green  earth  of 
New  Jersey  and  that  of  James  river ;  but,  for  the  present,  my  re- 
marks will  be  confined  to  the  latter,  and  its  use  as  manure,  as 
known  principally,  and  indeed  almost  entirely,  from  my  own  ob- 
servations and  practical  experience,  there  having  as  yet  been  but 
few  trials  of  it  made  by  other  persons. 

It  was  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  section,  that  the  first  notice  or 
observation  of  the  eocene  marl,  on  James  river,  was  induced  by  the 
previous  discovery  and  examination  of  the  green  or  gypseous  earth 
— the  latter  being  the  universal  underlying  bed  of  the  former,  and 
connected  with  it  in  more  respects  than  merely  its  subjacent  posi- 
tion. It  was  my  chance,  or  the  result  of  habits  of  observation  of 
marls  and  other  earths,  and  not  of  any  scientific  knowledge  or  pre- 
vious preparation  for  such  investigations,  which  led  me,  in  1817,  to 
be  the  first  to  observe  this  bed  of  green  earth  in  the  river  banks  of 
Evergreen  and  Coggins  Point,  and  to  trace  it  where  visible  along 
the  intermediate  ground,  a  distance  of  about  eight  miles.  Since 
then,  it  is  known  to  be  much  more  extended  ;  for  it  not  only  under- 
lies all  the  eocene  marl  of  the  same  neighbourhood,  wherever  that  is 
found,  and  part  of  the  yellow  sandy  miocene,  but  also  extends  be- 
yond, and  is  found  at  various  places  where  no  eocene  or  even  mio- 
cene marl  is  present.  The  most  western  limit,  seen  after  a  long  in- 
terval, or  concealed  existence  of  this  formation,  is  at  Petersburg, 
where  it  shows  in  the  ravines  so^th  of  Poplar  Lawn. 


456  GYPSEOUS   EARTH    OF   JAMES   RIVER. 

What  first  directed  my  attention  to  this  earth  was  the  existence 
in  the  river  bank  at  Evergreen  (the  place  of  my  birth,  and  of  . 
dence  in   early  life,)  of  curiously  shaped  and  beautiful   cry 
which  subsequently  I  learned  were  selonite   or  gypsum.     The  like 
crystals  (though  much  smaller  in  size)  I  soon  after  found  in  differ- 
ent places  at  Coggins  Point,  my  own  farm  and  then  residence.    And, 
in  making  examinations  for  this  purpose,  I  observed  that  wherever 
any  gypsum  could  be  found,  it  was  always  in  a  peculiar  kind  of 
earth,  which,  though  varying  much  in  appearance  in  different  places, 
and  at  different  elevations  at  the  same  place,  yet  possessed  charac- 
teristic marks  by  which  it  could  be  easily  distinguished  from  all 
others.     This  was  the  earth  in  ojuestion.     For  want  of  any  known 
or  more  appropriate  name,  I  at  first  applied  the  term   "  gypseous 
earth"  to  this  deposit;   and  though  I  subsequently  abandoned  this 
name  in   (undeserved)  deference  to  scientific  authority,  and  have 
used  instead,  in  my  later  publications,  the  name  '*'greei-sand  earth," 
I  now  believe  that  my  original  term  (in  reference  to  the  more  gene- 
ral and  universal  manuring  qualities)  was  the  better  of  the  two,  for 
reasons  which  will  appear  in  the  course  of  these  remarks.     And 
besides  that  "  green-sand  earth"  is  inconvenient  for  its  length,  it  is 
not  truly  descriptive ;  for  the  entire  granules  from  which  the  pe- 
culiar character  of  the  earth  is  derived,  are   not  green,  but  black 
superficially,  or  so  appear;  and  are  not  what  is  usually  understood 
as  sand,  but  in  texture  are  like  fine  and  unctuous  clay.      Still  worse 
is  it  to  term  the  whole  mass  "  green-sand,"  as  is  usually  done  when 
the  pure  "green-sand,"  even  if  that  were  properly  named,  may  not 
form  one-fourth  or  even  one-tenth  of  the  whole  mass  of  earth.     I 
therefore  would  prefer  for  the  deposit,  and  shall  use  indifferently, 
either  my  first  designation  of  gypseous  earth,  or  the  name  of  green 
earth,  which  latter  is  convenient,  is  sufficiently  descriptive,   and, 
moreover,  affirms  nothing  except  as  to  the  colour,  which  is  generally 
manifest  in  the  whole  mass,  and,  if  not,  is  certainly  so  in  the  sepa- 
rated and  mashed  granules,  which  distinguish  the  earth. 

As  the  lower  part  of  the  river  bank  is  mostly  exposed  and  kept 
bare  by  the  frequent  washing  by  the  waves  driven  by  strong  winds 
and  high  tides,  the  bed  of  gypseous  earth  can  be  easily  traced 
through  nearly  its  whole  course  along  the  river  side.  As  thus  ex- 
posed to  view,  it  has  generally  a  green  colour,  most  frequently  in- 
termixed and  mottled  with  smaller  streaks  and  spots  of  bright  yel- 
low. The  earth,  as  seen  firm  in  the  bank,  and  with  a  smooth  wast- 
ed surface,  might  be  supposed  to  be  somewhat  of  a  clay;  but,  on 
handling  it,  and  breaking  down  a  lump,  its  texture  is  more  like 
sand ;  as  indeed  the  larger  proportion  of  the  mass  is  silicious  sand. 
A  very-general  distinguishing  mark  of  this  earth  is  its  containing 
numerous  hollow  impressions  of  eocene  shells,  of  which  the  forms 


GYPSEOUS   EARTH.  457 

remain  perfect,  though  neither  the  shells  themselves  nor  any  portion 
of  their  calcareous  substance  remain,  as  the  earth  in  this  part,  and 
•where  most  generally  seen,  contains  not  a  particle  of  carbonate  of 
lime.  Among  the  yellow  spots  there  are  also  other  small  spots  and 
streaks  of  reddish  brown-coloured  clay,  very  pure,  soft  and  unctuous 
to  the  touch.  The  bright  yellow  clay  is  doubtless  largely  impreg- 
nated with  iron,  or  is  a  true  ochre.  Though  soft  within  the  bed, 
this  yellow  ochre  hardens  when  exposed  to  the  air  on  the  outside, 
and  even  when  under  water.  Many  of  the  yellow  spots  made  by 
this  ochre,  as  seen  on  the  surface  of  a  smooth  section  of  the  bed, 
have  a  faint  resemblance  to  the  shape  of  sections  of  bivalve  shells  ; 
and  these  contrasted  with  the  general  green  ground,  and  with  the 
exception  of  the  colours  being  different,  give  to  such  a  section  of 
the  bank  somewhat  the  appearance  of  the  beautiful  black  marble 
used  sometimes  for  mantel-pieces,  in  which  the  white  traces  of  what 
were  formerly  shells  show  throughout.  In  some  places  near  to  and 
below  the  beach,  the  earth  is  seen  much  darker  coloured,  indeed  is 
almost  black  when  moist  in  the  bank,  though  more  of  dark  and 
dull  green  when  dry.  This  deeper  colour  is  owing  to  the  green 
granules  being  present  in  larger  quantity ;  and  generally,  if  not 
always,  the  lower  part  of  the  bed  of  earth  is  richer  in  that  ingre- 
dient than  the  upper.  The  empty  impressions  which  were  former- 
ly filled  by  shells  are  still  found  in  penetrating  below  ;  but  as  the 
depth  increases,  first  are  seen  some  fragments,  and  then  whole  shells, 
though  greatly  decayed,  and  the  parts  having  scarcely  any  coherence. 
Still,  generally,  even  below,  where  these  shells  are  most  abundant, 
their  quantity  would  not  furnish  as  much  as  two  per  cent.,  and  gene- 
rally not  one  per  cent.,  to  the  whole  thickness  of  the  bed ;  and, 
therefore,  the  carbonate  of  lime,  though  of  course  useful  in  pro- 
portion to  its  quantity,  can  give  no  appreciable  addition  of  value 
to  the  mass  as  manure. 

Here  and  there,  but  rarely,  in  the  upper  and  dry  part  of  this  bed, 
crystals  of  gypsum  are  found,  generally  so  small  as  to  be  barely 
distinguishable  by  the  eye.  In  the  lower  and  wet  part,  gypsum  is 
never  visible ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  believed  to  be  always  present 
in  some  proportion. 

But  the  important  and  most  characteristic  mark  of  the  green 
earth  is  present  in  the  black  granules  called  "  green-sand,"  which 
give  colour  to  the  mass.  To  ascertain  the  presence  of  these  gra- 
nules, let  a  small  sample  of  the  earth  or  marl  supposed  to  contain 
them  be  dried,  and  then  crumbled  between  the  fingers,  or,  if  too 
hard  for  that,  by  being  rubbed  in  a  mortar,  not  too  finely  and  closely. 
Then  take  a  pinch  of  the  powder  between  the  thumb  and  finger,  and 
sprinkle  it  very  thinly  over  a  piece  of  white  paper.  If  any  of  the 
separated  grains  appear  black  (or  green),  mash  one  of  them  with 
39 


458  GREEN-SAND. 

the  moistened  point  of  a  pen-knife;  and  if  it  be  "green-sand,"  the 
granule  will  mash  like  hue  soapy  clay,  and  make  a  vivid  green 
smear. 

For  greater  accuracy,  let  the  earth  (or  marl)  be  well  washed  by 
agitation  in  water,  and  pour  off  the  pure  clay  and  other  lighter  mat- 
ters which  will  remain  longer  suspended  in  the  fluid.  The  grains 
of  green-sand  will  then  be  left  with  nothing  else  but  the  quartz  or 
silicious  sand,  and  moreover  the  former  will  be  made  more  percepti- 
ble, in  consequence  of  being  cleared  by  the  washing  of  any  previous 
covering  of  fine  clay. 

My  first  published  account  of  this  earth  was  made  in  or  about 
the  year  1828,  in  the  old  series  of  the  u  American  Farmer."  A 
much  more  extended  article  "  On  the  Gypseous  Earth  of  James 
River,"  I  afterwards  published,  July,  1833,  in  the  first  volume  of 
the  Farmers'  Register,  beginning  at  page  207.  Though  up  to  that 
time  I  had  never  so  much  as  heard  of  the  term  "green-sand,"  and 
though  I  adopted  and  used  the  new  and  unauthorized  designation 
of  "gypseous  earth,"  the  earth  in  question  was  described  so  minutely 
and  accurately  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  intelligent  and  atten- 
tive reader  of  the  article,  and  subsequent  observer  of  the  kind  of 
earth  in  question,  to  mistake  the  subject  of  description.  In  this 
piece  I  also  asserted  the  identity  of  this  gypseous  earth  with  the 
"  green  marl"  of  New  Jersey.  I  trust  that  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
thus  specifying  my  claim  to  the  first  discovery  of  this  earth  in  Vir- 
ginia, inasmuch  as  that  merit  (if  it  be  one)  would  be  ascribed  by 
every  otherwise  uninformed  reader  of  the  first  report  of  the  geolo- 
gical survey  of  Virginia,  and  some  other  of  the  publications  from 
the  same  source^  to  the  author  of  these  pieces.*  Upon  this  occasion, 
it  would  be  improper  to  say  more  on  this  question  than  thus  con- 
cisely and  explicitly  to  assert  my  just  rights. 

Before  proceeding  to  offer  the  more  precise  and  more  valuable 
information  concerning  this  earth  obtained  by  very  recent  investi- 
gations, it  will  be  proper  to  state  something  of  the  progress  and 
changes  of  opinion  on  this  subject,  which  operated  at  different 
times  either  to  encourage  or  to  obstruct  the  use  of  this  earth  as 
manure. 

From  1818  to  1835  inclusive,  I  made  numerous  trials,  and  in 
some  cases  extensive  applications  of  the  Coggins  Point  gypseous 
earth  as  manure.  The  results  of  my  general  practice,  and  also  of 
many  particular  experiments,  noted  at  the  times  when  made,  were 
reported  in  a  communication  to  the  Farmers'  Register,  commencing 
at  page  118,  vol.  ix.  The  effects  stated  were  very  different  and 
apparently  contradictory — sometimes  beneficial  and  profitable  in  a 
remarkable  degree,  but  more  generally  of  little  value,  or  of  no 

*  Frofessor  W.  B.  Rogers,  formerly  Geological  Surveyor  of  Virginia. 


GYPSEOUS  EARTH.  459 

benefit  whatever.  The  inferences  which  I  drew  from  all  my  expe- 
rience (and  there  existed  scarcely  any  other  known  facts  or  experi- 
ments), wore  that  this  earth  as  manure  acted  in  the  same  manner 
as  gypsum,  though  more  powerfully — and  in  no  other  manner  than 
as  gypsum  would  under  like  circumstances ;  that  like  gypsum,  on 
my  land  certainly,  and  as  I  inferred  in  our  tide-water  region  gene- 
rally, this  earth  had  no  effect  whatever  on  any  acid  soils — and  rarely 
on  any  other  crop  than  clover  (and  other  leguminous  plants),  even 
when  properly  applied  on  neutral  or  calcareous  soils ;  and  that  when 
naturally  acid  soils  were  made  calcareous  by  being  mailed,  this 
green  earth  then  became  generally  operative  thereon  as  a  manure 
for  clover  (and  for  other  plants  of  the  clover  or  pea  tribe),  in  the 
same  manner  as  is  usual  in  regard  to  gypsum.*  And  though  the 
effects,  when  any  were  produced,  were  greater  than  those  of  any 
usual  or  known  dressings  of  gypsum,  and  sometimes  in  a  very  re- 
markable degree,  still  the  failures  and  disappointments  were  so  many 
that  I  did  not  deem  the  practice  worth  being  continued.  In  1841, 
my  son,  the  present  occupant  of  the  Coggins  Point  farm,  at  my 
request,  recommenced  the  applications  of  gypseous  earth,  for  ex- 
periment; and  on  the  clover  of  this  year,  1842,  he  has  extended 
the  dressings  over  more  than  60  acres. f  The  results  were,  as  in 
former  years,  very  unequal,  and  for  the  greater  space  of  ground 
covered,  unprofitable,  and  barely  if  at  all  perceptible.  But  on  25 
to  30  acres  the  benefit  was  remarkably  great,  and  in  some  cases  (of 
summer  dressings)  improvement  was  obvious  within  ten  days  after 
the  application.  But  what  was  most  interesting  in  the  results  was, 
that  a  clue  seemed  to  be  thereby  furnished  to  explain  the  frequent 
previous  failures  of  this  manure,  even  when  applied  to  clover  grow- 
ing on  neutral  or  calcareous  soil,  which  are  the  only  circumstances 
in  which  it  has  ever  been  found  profitable  in  practice.  My  former 
applications  had  been  generally  made  from  the  upper  and  greener 
stratum  of  the  gypseous  earth  (designated  in  a  succeeding  page  as 
C),  or  if  from  the  lower  and  blacker  part  (D),  the  digging  did  not 
penetrate  more  than  a  foot,  or,  at  most  and  rarely,  two  feet  below 
the  before  exposed  outer  surface.  But  in  the  recent  larger  opera- 
tion, the  digging  (made  on  the  river  beach)  was  so  much  more  ex- 
tensive; as  to  furnish  earth  from  depths  of  three  or  four  feet,  as  well 
as  of  portions  nearer  to  and  at  the  surface.  I  ascribed  the  remarka- 
ble differences  of  effect  to  the  kind  aud  place  of  the  earth ;  inferring 
that  the  exposed  parts,  and  all  perhaps  near  the  surface,  had,  by 
exposure  to  air  or  water,  lost  a  large  proportion  of  the  soluble  or 

*  See  these  views  more  fully  set  forth  in  the  article  above  referred  to, 
and  also  in  another  OS  the  greeu-saud  marls  of  Paniunkey,  at  pp.  67'J  aud 
690,  vol.  viii.  Farmers'  Register. 

f  See  the  facts  and  results  stated  in  two  communications  to  Farmers' 
Register,  pp.  86,  135  aud  li52,  vol.  x. 


4G0  GYPSEOUS   EARTH. 

decomposable  fertilizing  ingredients.  As  the  applications  had  not 
been  made  with  any  view  to  this  question,  the  experiments  are  not 
to  be  deemed  as  conclusive,  and  the  correctness  of  this  inference  is 
yet  to  be  fairly  tested  by  future  experiments.*  But  the  benefits 
from  some  of  the  dressings,  and  all  of  those  supposed  to  be  from 
the  deeper  digging,  were  so  great,  and  so  speedily  produced,  that 
renewed  and  strong  interest  was  excited  in  regard  to  this  manure. 
The  quantity  applied  was  generally  40  bushels  of  the  earth  to  the 
acre.  And  this  quantity  seemed  (from  an  accurate  comparative 
experiment)  to  produce  as  much  benefit  as  200  bushels.  The 
growth  of  clover  was  increased  in  degrees  varying  from  100  to  800 
per  cent.  And  where  the  application  was  most  successful,  the  in- 
crease and  profit  were  sufficient  to  compensate  the  expense,  even 
though  no  further  benefit  shall  be  found  than  in  this  one  crop — or 
that  a  new  application  shall  be  required,  and  be  made,  for  every 
succeeding  crop  of  clover,  or  once  in  each  round  of  the  rotation  of 
crops. 

An  observation  made  by  accident  last  spring  led  to  further 
chemical  as  well  as  other  examinations  of  this  earth,  and  to  im- 
portant results.  Upon  heating  a  lump  of  it  to  red  heat,  I  found 
that  strong  fumes  were  thereby  extricated,  which  were  almost  suf- 
focating if  inhaled  incautiously.  The  odour  was  manifestly  sul- 
phureous in  part,  and  principally ;  but  it  seemed  not  altogether  so, 
but  to  be  mixed  with  some  other,  much  like  that  of  muriatic  acid 
gas.  Similar  trials  were  made  on  many  specimens,  and  all  the 
darker  and  (as  supposed)  richer  layers  of  the  green  earth  at  Cog- 
gins  Point  showed  the  like  result.  From  specimens  of  the  upper 
and  lighter  green  stratum  (C)  when  heated  red,  there  was  nothing 
of  this  suffocating  odour  produced.  And  it  may  be  useful  to  state 
here,  in  anticipation  of  subjects  to  be  hereafter  more  fully  consi- 
dered, that  I  subsequently  found  that  the  New  Jersey  green-sand 
earths  yielded  not  a  particle  of  this  gaseous  product. 

This  odour,  so  far  as  it  was  sulphureous,  was  obviously  the  pro- 
duct of  the  decomposition  (by  red  heat)  of  sulphuret  [or  bi-sulphu- 
ret]  of  iron — which  was  thus  proved  to  be  universally  diffused, 
though  invisible,  through  all  the  darker  and  better  kinds  of  this 
earth.  Sulphur  would  have  shown  like  results,  with  a  much  less 
degree  of  heat ;  but  it  could  not  be  that,  because  the  heat  sufficient 
to  decompose  sulphur  (and  to  evolve  its  fumes)  had  no  such  effect 
on  the  earth.  I  also  observed  that  lumps  of  the  earth,  after  having 
been  applied  as  manure,  and  exposed  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
for  some  months,  often  had  a  smell  of  sulphur;  and,  in  some  cases, 

*  Subsequent  experiments  have  not  sustained  the  above  idea.  But  the 
results,  though  not  uniform,  have  been  so  generally  beneficial  on  clover, 
that  this  earth  is  applied  to  from  GO  to  80  acres  every  year. 


GYPSEOUS   EAR.TII.  461 

the  same  effect  was  exhibited  in  specimens  taken  from  the  diggings, 
and  kept  dry.  The  sulphuret  of  iron,  if  universally  present,  would, 
by  its  decomposition  in  contact  with  carbonate  of  lime  (as  wlrcn  on 
calcareous  land),  form  sulphate  of  lime  (gypsum).  This  showed  a 
source  for  the  universal  supply  of  that  manure  to  some  extent. 
Farther,  my  friend  Mr.  M.  Tuomey,*  had  found  sulphate  of  lime 
ready  formed  in  specimens  of  wet  earth,  which  I  supposed  the  least 
likely  to  retain  that  ingredient — and  thus  was  indicated  another  and 
more  general  supply  of  gypsum  already  formed. 

The  increased  interest  excited  by  these  new  observations,  and 
also  the  new  views  as  to  the  cause  of  the  failures  of  most  of  the 
former  applications  of  this  manure,  induced  the  sinkiug  of  a  pit  in 
the  gypseous  earth,  on  the  river  beach  at  Coggins  Point,  to  the 
depth  of  18  feet  below  ordinary  high  tide.  This  digging  for  the 
lower  13  feet  was  in  a  very  compact  and  fine  clay  (E),  or  clay  marl, 
as  it  would  have  been  designated  in  England,  from  its  texture  and 
sensible  qualities,  but  which  contained  no  visible  or  apparent  fer- 
tilizing ingredient,  except  a  very  small  sprinkling  of  shells,  and 
elsewhere  some  little  sulphuret  of  iron  in  small  lumps  and  in  minute 
crystals,  visible  in  a  few  detached  spots  only.  The  appearances 
promised  so  little  of  value  or  remuneration  (and  less  so  as  the  dig- 
ging was  sunk  lower),  that  the  work  was  suspended.  But  the 
blacker  earth  above  (Z>)  and  also  the  clay  (E)  were  carried  out  for 
experiment  on  clover  (May  26th),  of  which  the  first  crop  had  just 
been  grazed  off  closely,  and  the  cattle  removed.  As  the  season  was 
so  far  advanced,  and  benefit  so  little  counted  on,  the  covering  was 
made  heavier  than  in  the  winter  and  early  spring  before  (and  of 
which  the  full  benefit  had  been  already  seen  on  the  first  or  spring 
crop  of  clover) ;  100  bushels  of  the  upper  and  better  earth,  or  150 
of  the  clay,  being  applied  to  the  acre.  A  good  rain  fell  the  next 
night;  and  in  less  than  ten  days  there  were  visible  and  manifest 
beneficial  effects  from  both  kinds  of  earth,  but  better  from  the  upper 
— which  effects  increased  to  fully  the  doubling  of  the  growth  by  the 
1st  of  August.  The  hard  lumps  of  the  compact  clay  soon  split 
and  crumbled  when  exposed  to  the  air,  and  even  without  rain.  The 
remarkable  benefits  of  these  applications  induced  the  resuming  of 
the  digging,  and  another  and  much  deeper  pit  was  dug  as  early  as 
the  other  labours  of  the  farm  permitted,  and  a  statement  will  pre- 
sently be  made  of  the  section  thereby  exposed.  But  previous  to 
this,  it  is  proper  to  describe  another  like  operation,  and  its  results, 
at  a  more  interesting  locality. 

The  same  general  appearance  of  the  gypseous  earth,  and  mostly 
of  the  poorer  kind  of  greenish  colour,  mottled  with  pale  yellow  clay, 

*  Now  Professor  of  Geology  ami  Agricultural  Chemistry  iu  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama. 

39* 


4G2  GYPSEOUS   EARTH   AT   EVERGREEN. 

is  exhibited  all  along'the  river  bank  of  Coggins  Point  and  the  hinds 
above,  to  the  Evergreen  farm — interrupted  only  by  the  parts  of 
marshy  or  more  ancient  alluvial  lands;  or  where  the  stratum  has 
been  broken  and  concealed  by  the  ancient  land-slips  which  have 
greatly  altered  the  original  levels  and  form  of  the  surface  of  that 
whole  stretch  of  land  bordering  on  the  river  and  overlyiug  the 
gypseous  earth  formation.  This  operation  by  the  land  slipping  and 
sinking  continues,  and  some  new  effects  are  seen  every  year.  At 
many  places  along  this  stretch,  gypsum  is  perceptible  in  the  green 
earth,  either  in  crystals  or  in  powder,  and  sometimes,  and  rarely,  in 
considerable  proportion,  say  from  5  to  15  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
mass  for  very  limited  spaces.  At  the  upper  part  of  the  river  line 
of  the  Evergreen  farm  (at  the  mouth  of  Bayley's  creek,  and  two 
miles  Ixdow  City  Point),  the  river  bank  has  peculiar  and  remarkable 
features,  which  deserve  particular  notice.  It  was  here,  in  1817,  that 
I  first  discovered  this  green  earth  formation,  and  thence  traced  it  to 
my  own  farm  and  then  residence,  Coggins  Point,  and  elsewhere  in 
that  neighbourhood. 

The  lower  visible  part  of  the  body  of  gypseous  earth  at  Ever- 
green is  laid  bare  by  the  wasting  encroachment  of  the  river  (by 
which  it  is  rapidly  washing  away),  for  200  yards  in  length.  The 
southern  or  upper  extremity,  for  some  20  yards,  approaches  nearly 
in  appearance  to  the  general  character  of  the  upper  stratum  before 
described.  But  all  the  remainder  is  different,  and  much  richer  in 
the  dark  or  green  granules  than  generally  elsewhere. 

Since  this  article  was  commenced,  Capt.  H.  II.  Cocke,  the  pre- 
sent proprietor  of  Evergreen,  at  my  suggestion  and  request,  had  a 
shaft  dug  for  examination,  which,  with  an  extension  of  my  own  after 
he  had  ceased  his  operations,  added  to  the  natural  and  higher  ex- 
posure of  the  section,  27  feet  below  the  beach,  and  25  below  com- 
mon high  tide.  The  several  strata  of  the  whole  section,  and  their 
variations,  will  be  described  in  their  descending  order. 

At  top — 
1st.  Surface  soil  (sloping  back  irregularly  to  the  table  land,  which 
is  much  higher),  on  (2d)  gravelly  and  sandy  sub-soil,  pervious  to 
water,  of  various  depths — lying  on  strata  nearly  all  horizontal. 
Next, 
10  feet  of  yellow  sandy  miocene  marl. 
8  feet  of  yellowish  clay  (supposed  eocene),  intermixed  throughout 
with  very  small  crystals  and  powder  of  sulphate  of  lime — the  clay 
not  compact  or  solid,  but  open  and  loose  throughout.    (Query  :  Is 
not  this  the  equivalent  of  the  eocene  marl  at  Coggins    Point, 
with  its  former  shells  and  carbonate  of  lime  completely  changed 
to  sulphate  of  lime,  and  the  greatest  proportion  dissolved  and 
lost  ?) 
5  feet  of  gypseous  earth — the  general  colour,  green  mottled  and 


THE   DIFFERENT   LAYERS.  463 

Streaked  with  yellow  ochre,  and  full  throughout  of  very  minute 
crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime,  supposed  by  the  eye  to  he  about  10 
to  15  per  ccut.  of  the  whole  mass.  No  shells  or  casts  seen  in 
the  part  exposed  by  digging  for  examination. 

7  feet  of  brownish  mottled  clay,  feeling  smooth  and  soapy,  con- 
taining numerous  small  crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime. 

9  feet  very  pure  white  clay  or  fullcr's-carth,  in  horizontal  layers, 
separated  by  veins  of  the  yellow  clay  (or  iron  ochre)  beforc- 
mentioned,  other  veins  of  the  same  sometimes  also  inclined  and 
crossiug  the  horizontal  veins — the  outsides  of  the  lumps  of  clay 
coloured  by  oxide  of  iron.  The  clay  all  broken  into  irregular 
lumps,  as  if  the  fissures  had  been  formed  by  the  contraction  in 
drying  of  clay  soft  and  distended  with  wetness.  No  shells,  nor 
appearance  of  them,  but  many  pure  and  transparent  and  beauti- 
ful crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime  here  and  there,  some  weighing 
several  ouuees.    This  stratum  changing  gradually  into  the  next  of 

4  feet  of  dark  bluish  clay,  the  colouring  matter  being  green-sand, 
mottled  with  irregular  streaks  of  bright  yellow,  becoming  brown 
below  where  oozing  water  begins  to  show  and  is  reddish  with 
sulphate  of  iron,  or  other  ferruginous  matter  in  solution.  This 
stratum  full  of  large  and  solid  crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime, 
amounting  apparently  to  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
mass — the  crystals  coloured  dark  gray,  because  of  some  impu- 
rities in  small  grains  (green-sand  ?)  being  enclosed  and  diffused 
through  them.     No  shells.     This  changing  into  the  next,  of 

11  feet  of  same  dark  or  nearly  black  clay,  nearly  uniform  colour, 
and  still  compact  texture,  and  feeling  smooth  and  soapy — with 
very  few  crystals,  and  much  less  sulphate  of  lime  than  the  pre- 
ceding, but  many  small  and  scattered  eocene  white  shells,  quite 
rotten,  and  being  moist,  as  soft  as  dough.  The  shells,  mostly 
several  kinds  of  very  large  turritelke.  Fewer  shells  as  descend- 
ing. At  top  of  the  stratum  some  large  and  very  perfect  speci- 
mens of  the  ostrea  compressirostra  (?)  To  level  of  the  river  at 
common  high  tide. 
Below  high  tide. 

14  feet  very  similar  to  the  last,  the  shells  very  few  for  the  greater 
part,  but  increasing  near  the  next.  No  crystals  or  other  sulphate 
of  lime  visible.  The  green-sand  granules  coarser — sometimes 
in  small  lumps  quite  pure,  or  unmixed  with  anything  else. 
These  granules  breaking  easily,  though  as  if  hard  or  brittle,  and 
not  like  a  soft  soapy  clay  as  usual — though  as  green  as  before. 
Many  small  cylindrical  tubes  seen  (made  by  the  burrowing  of 
phulades,  or  other  shell-fish  of  the  like  habits),  which  seem  to 
be  formed  on,  or  coated  with  pure  green-sand  in  mass,  and  green 
in  colour,  and  the  hollows  filled  with  looser  black  granules. 

11  feet  of  shells   lying   generally  close  together,  and   serving   to 


464  GYPSEOUS   EAETH   AT   EVERGREEN. 

make  the  'whole  stratum  a  calcareous  marl,  of  perhaps  30  per 
cent,  or  more  of  carbonate  of  lime — the  earth  filling  the  shells 
and  between  them  being  the  same  black  earth,  as  rich  as  before 
in  green-sand.  At  top,  some  very  large  and  perfect  shells  of 
ostrea  compressirostra,  and  another  much  thicker  ostrea,  not 
known.*  The  shells  mostly  very  large  turriteUce  of  different 
species — near  bottom  fewer  of  these,  and  mostly  crassat- 
The  shells  nearly  as  numerous  as  before,  at  this  depth,  at  which 
the  digging  was  abandoned,  at  25  feet  below  tide. 

The  whole  section,  from  the  top  of  the  highest  undoubted 
eocene  stratum  to  where  the  digging  ceased  (without  any  indica- 
tion of  being  near  the  end),  is  61  feet — and  if  the  clay  and  gyp- 
sum stratum  below  the  miocene  be  added,  -which,  though  not  cer- 
tain, I  believe  to  be  eocene,  there  would  be  69  feet.  And  if  this 
and  the  two  other  Lower  clay  strata  be  deducted,  there  will  still  re- 
main 45  feet  of  strata  exposed,  all  rich  in  green-sand,  and  of  it  9 
feet  very  rich  also  in  sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum,  and  11  feet  mode- 
rately rich  in  carbonate  of  Lime.  Such  a  deposit  is  well  worth  the 
examination  of  geologists  and  chemists,  and  the  trial  of  farmers."}" 

It  was  remarkable  that  at  this  place  only  of  all  the  usual  strata 
of  all  the  then  known  deposits  of  green-sand  or  eocene  marl  in 
Virginia,  were  found  exposed,  the  sheLLs  of  the  ostrea  compr 
rostra — and  below  tide  the  other  before  unknown  and  very  thick 
and  heavy  ostrea ;}  and  that  at  this  place  there  has  not  been  found 
a  single  shell  of  either  the  ostrea  sdlaformls  or  cardita  plani- 
costa,  the  latter  of  which  is  so  abundant  through  all  other  known 
eocene  deposits,  and  the  former  in  the  calcareous  eocene  else- 
where. These  facts  seemed  to  indicate  (as  well  as  the  general 
dip  to  the  eastward^)  that  the  strata  at  Evergreen  are  much  more 
elevated  than  the  same  at  Coggins  Point — and  that  by  digging 
deeper,  the  lower  and  all  the  strata  of  the  former  might  be  found 

*  One  of  these  last  (both  valves)  weighed  5  lbs.  Mr.  M.  Tuomev,  to 
whose  much  better  information  on  this  subject  I  ought  to  defer,  supposes 
this  very  large  and  heavy  shell  to  be  an  0.  compressirostra  of  unusual  age 
and  growth.  If  so,  however,  it  is  certainly  very  different  in  appearance 
from  that  shell,  as  usually  seen  higher  up  in  this  bed,  even  when  wider 
than  this  very  thick  and  heavy  ostrea. 

[f  The  lowest  known  layer  of  this  rich  deposit  has  since  been  traced 
three  miles  westward  to  City  Point ;  and  from  the  latter  place  the  marl  ha3 
been  used  extensively,  and  to  much  benefit.  1851.] 

X  This  last  shell  I  have  since  learned  (by  specimen)  is  also  found  in 
the  green-sand  marl  at  North  Wales,  near  the  upper  termination  of  the 
Pamunkey  bed — and  near  the  bottom  of  the  marl.  And  later  personal  in- 
spection has  shown  clearly  the  identity  of  the  deposits  and  the  fossils  at 
these  two  points ;  one  being  the  bottom  of  the  Pamunkey  bed,  and  the 
other  nearly  (as  is  presumed)  to  the  bottom  of  the  James  river  bed  of 
green-sand  marl. 


GVPSEOUS   EARTH   AT   COUG1NS    POINT.  4G5 

at  other  parts  of  the  known  area  (before  described)  of  the  eocene 
formation. 

This  inference  added  to  other  considerations  caused  to  be  sunk 
the  second  shaft  above-mentioned  in  the  beach  of  Coggins'  Point, 
130  yards  distant  from  the  first  one,  which  by  this  time  had  been 
filled  completely  by  the  sand  driven  by  storms  and  high  tides.  The 
digging  was  made  at  a  low  part  of  the  bank,  and  which  therefore 
did  not  show  either  the  eocene  marl  or  the  miocene,  the  former  of 
which  is  seen  in  the  higher  bank  at  a  short  distance,  and  both 
together  at  the  distance  of  a  mile.  The  different  strata  of  the 
actual  section  at  the  new  digging,  taken  descending  from  the  top 
of  the  bank,  were  as  follows  : — 

1  foot,  surface  soil — gray  loam. 

7  feet  of  (drift)  pale  yellow  clay,  containing  much  coarse  silicious 

sand. 
4  feet  (drift)  rounded  or  water-worn  pebbles,  of  all  sizes,  from  4 

inches  through  to  coarse  gravel,  held  together  by  enough  clay 

and  ferruginous  earth  to  fill  the  interstices  between  the  pebbles. 

None  of  the  pebbles  calcareous. 

2  feet  of  (drift)  very  thin  layers  of  hard  and  gritty  gray  clay, 
alternating  with  others  of  coarse  ferruginous  sand. 

2  feet  of  poor  greenish  earth,  more  than  half  the  surface  of  the 
section  brown  in  spots,  and  indurated  with  oxide  of  iron. 
(Here  should    be,  as  elsewhere  in  the  neighbourhood,  though 

absent  at  this  particular  locality,  either  one  or  both,  the  miocene 

marl  (A),  and  next  below  the  eocene  calcareous  marl  (i?)  described 

in  the  preceding  pages). 

(6Y)  9  feet  of  the  ordinary  upper  layer  of  gypseous  earth — green 
colour,  mottled  with  spots  of  «bright  yellow  clay  (or  ochre),  and 
some  other  spots  of  unctuous  reddish  brown  clay.  Very  slight 
efflorescence  of  g}rpsum  on  the  surface. 

(D)  3  feet  of  darker  and  nearly  uniform  colour,  almost  black,  from 
the  greater  proportion  of  green-sand.  This  and  the  preceding, 
containing  many  impressions  of  shells,  but  no  shells  or  frag- 
ments, and  no  carbonate  of  lime.  More  efflorescence  of  gypsum, 
and  also  on  next — 

CD)  3  feet  of  same,  except  that  some  shells  are  seen — and  increase 
in  the  next  to  level  of  river  at  common  high  tide. 

(D)  G  feet  of  same  (next  below  tide) — the  shells  mostly  cardita 
planicosta — fewer  of  cytherca  and  corbula.  No  ostrea  or  turri- 
teUa.  Small  and  slender  shark's  teeth  (so  called)  in  perfect 
preservation,  the  points  and  edges  being  as  sharp  as  in  teeth  of 
the  living  animal. 

(/?)  15  feet  bluish  gray  or  lead-coloured  clay  (from  G  to  22  feet 
below  tide),  having  nearly  the  texture  of  clay  marl.  Very  com- 
pact and  firm  in  texture — unctuous  to  the  touch,  but  not  adhc- 


4GG  DIFFERENT   LAYERS  OF   THE    BED. 

give  or  tough — docs  not  bend  to  pressure,  but  breaks — cuts 
smooth,  except  when  the  edge  of  the  kuife  meets  parts  of  shells, 
or  grains  of  silicious  sand,  which,  as  well  as  granules  of  grccn- 
sand,  are  irregularly  intermixed  throughout.  The  shells  very 
rotten,  and  flattened  by  pressure.  Sometimes  in  masses,  or  thin 
bands  or  regular  layers,  becoming  less  and  less  in  quantity  as 
descending,  and  but  few  seen  at  and  below  10  feet  of  this  stra- 
tum. Numerous  particles  of  mica  throughout.  Changing  gra- 
dually to  next.  At  12  to  13  feet  of  its  depth,  many  hard  lumps 
of  sulphuret  of  iron.  The  upper  three  or  four  feet  of  this 
penetrated  by  numerous  hollow  cylinders,  of  an  inch  or  more  in 
diameter,  and  in  every  direction — obviously  having  been  bored 
by  shell-fish.  These  hollows  are  filled  by  the  green  earth  of  the 
stratum  above,  which  thus  makes  nearly  half  the  mass.  (This 
clay  and  the  layer  above  (D)  were  the  kinds  used  for  manure 
from  the  first  opened  pit.) 

3  feet  (22  to  25  below  tide)  of  brownish  and  more  friable  clay,  in- 
termixing at  first  with  the  above.  Green-sand  much  more 
abundant  than  in  the  preceding,  and  partly  in  very  large  granules. 

3£  feet  (25  to  28  below  tide)  of  very  smooth  and  firm  clay,  of 
delicate  lilac  colour  at  first,  but  becoming  paler  as  descending, 
until  nearly  white.  Splits  easily  into  flakes  like  thick  slate ;  and 
still  thinner  lamina  show  that  the  earth  was  a  deposit  in  tranquil 
waters.  Thin  flakes  (not  thicker  than  writing  paper),  and  some- 
times a  mere  powder  of  pure  sulphuret  of  iron  visible  between 
many  of  the  layers  of  clay,  and  causing  them  to  separate  easily. 
The  upper  foot  of  this  penetrated  everywhere  by  small  hollow 
tubes  (from  an  eighth  to  the  third  of  an  inch  in  diameter),  which 
are  filled  by  the  brown  and  greeir  variegated  earth  of  the  stratum 
above — causing  a  lump  when  cut  smooth  to  appear  like  a  con- 
glomerate of  differently  coloured  marbles.  Except  in  these  bor- 
ings, no  green-sand  deposit,  and  no  shelly  matter.  The  sulphuret 
of  iron,  which  is  through  this  stratum  visible  in  powder,  or  thin 
layers,  and  above  in  small  masses  or  lumps,  is  diffused  through 
all  the  strata  containing  green-sand,  except  the  highest  (C). 
Through  this  and  the  upper  gray  clay  (E)  some  small  black 
pebbles  seen,  which  appear  as  if  formed  by  melting.  The  same 
found  in  the  eocene  marl.     A  sudden  change  to  the  next — 

1\  feet  (28  £  to  31  below  high  tide)  of  remarkably  smooth  and 
unctuous,  but  firm  clay  of  reddish  brown  colour  (or  dull  brick 
red),  and  homogeneous  texture  as  well  as  colour.  Cuts  as  smooth 
as  the  best  hard  soap.  Deposited  in  thin  lamina;,  and  breaks  or 
splits  easily  in  straight  lines  both  in  the  direction  of  the  lamiuaa 
and  lengthwise  at  right-angles  to  their  direction — the  grain  and 
fracture  appearing  like  that  of  rotten  wood.  Across  these  two 
directions,  the  fracture  very  uneven.     Near  the  bottom  of  the 


THE    DIFFERENT    LAYERS.  407 

richest  green  stratum  (/))   there  is  a  harely  perceptible  oozing 
of  water.     All  below  dry,  and  the  two  last  strata  remarkably 
dry.     They  could  not  be  more  so  if  within  three  feet  of   the 
surface  of  a  high  knoll,  and  in  summer. 
1  foot  (31  to  32  below  tide)  of  same  as  the  last  in  texture,  but  of 

pale  blue  colour. 
1  foot   (32  to  33  below  tide)  mixture  of  the  last,  in  small  lumps 
imbedded  in  the  next,  as  if  broken  up  by  a  violent  current,  and 
deposited  in  rapid  water. 
17  feet  (38  to  49   below  tide,  the  lowest   digging)  black   earth — 
richest  in  green-sand  (supposed  to  be  40  per  cent.)  mixed  with  a 
few   fragments  (less  than  2  per  cent,   on  an  average)  of  shells, 
mostly  small,  and  all  very   rotten.     Kinds,  mostly  of  turritdla 
(some  of  which   are  large),  mytylus,   corhida,  and  crassatella. 
Many  small  and  a  few  large  shells  of  oslrea  compreisirostra  near 
the  top  of  this  stratum  and  again   near  the  lowest  part,  where 
the  work  was  stopped  by  the  water  rising  from  below. 
The  whole,  so  far  as  dug,   added  to   the  before  exposed  bank, 
amounted  to  00  feet  of  the  eocene  deposit,  of  which  49  feet  was 
below  the  level  of  bigh  tide.     The  last  stratum,  which  was   pene- 
trated for  17  feet  before  the  rise  of  spring  water  compelled  the  work 
to  be  discontinued,  was  manifestly  the  same  with  that  at  Evergreen 
which  was  even  with  high  tide  (and  extending  above  and  below), 
and  which  was  there  25  feet  thick.     It  was  a  subject  of  much  re- 
gret, after  so  much  labour,  that  the  still  lower  stratum,  full  of  shells, 
could  not  be  reached,  and  which  probably  might  have  been  done  in 
8  feet  more  of  digging.     However,  enough  was  done  to  show  that 
the  quantity  is  inexhaustible  of  the  layers  richest  in   green-sand 
(whatever  may  be   that  degree  of  richness),  independent  of  the 
other  layers. 

Besides  the  main  object  of  this  laborious  examination  by  digging 
as  low  as  possible,  to  learn  more  of  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the 
earth  for  manure,  and  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  there  was  another 
inducement.  The  whole  bottom  of  the  river  across  to  Berkley 
(below  the  thin  covering  of  loose  and  soft  mud),  according  to  its 
variation  of  depth,  must  be  formed  of  one  or  another  of  the  same 
layers  shown  in  this  digging  of  49  feet  below  the  water  level ;  and, 
of  course,  Harrison's  Bar,  which  lies  between  the  Coggins  and 
Berkley  shores,  must  be  so  formed.  No  earth  more  strongly  re- 
sists the  washing  action  of  water  than  the  gypseous  earth,  even 
when  the  least  mixed  with  clay.  This  peculiar  quality  must  be 
the  cause  of  the  existence  of  this  bar,  which  presents  so  serious  an 
obstacle  to  the-navigation  of  the  river ;  and  it  may  be  thence  in- 
ferred what  would  be  the  degree  of  difficulty  of  its  removal,  and 
also  that  the  removal,  if  effected,  would  be  permanent. 
Various  and  contradictory  as  had  been  many  of  the  results  of 


468  GREEN-SAND   OF   NEW   JKKSEY. 

my  experiments  of  the  green  earth  as  manure,  there  had  been  per- 
fect agreement  in  some  respects.  Thus,  as  before  Btated  generally, 
the  earth  has  never  been  beneficial  as  manure  on  acid  soil — but 
rarely  on  corn,  and  never  (directly)  on  wheat ;  and  (on  proper  soils) 
generally  and  greatly  beneficial  on  clover,  and  perhaps  all  plants 
of  the  clover  and  pea  tribe — and  the  effects,  when  produced,  have 
never  been  permanent,  nor  even  very  durable.  And  the  effects 
shown  in  these  points  of  agreement  were  nearly  all  the  reverse  of 
those  ascribed  to  the  New  Jersey  green-sand.  In  regard  to  these 
effects,  in  the  absence  of  all  certain  and  particular  information  to 
be  obtained  otherwise,  I  found  it  necessary  to  seek  information  in 
person.  The  results  of  my  inquiries  and  personal  examinations,  in 
general,  showed  that  the  green-sand  (called  marl)  of  New  Jersey, 
though  agreeing  in  some  respects  with  ours  in  action  as  manure,  is 
operative  generally  on  the  greater  number  of  soils  and  on  most 
crops,  and  is  also  very  durable  in  effect.  On  the  other  hand,  much 
larger  quantities  are  applied  there  (usually  200  bushels,  and  some- 
times 400,  or  more,  to  the  acre)  than  I  have  done  with  ours;  and 
something  of  the  more  general  benefit  and  longer  duration  may 
perhaps  be  owing  to  that  circumstance.*  Whether  the  green-sand 
is  indeed  the  principal,  or  a  very  important  manuring  agent,  of  the 
James  river  earth,  or  whether  the  other  ingredients  may  not  be 
still  more  active  than  its  green-sand,  is  yet  undecided. f 

It  is  indeed  strange  that  such  doubts  should  exist  at  this  late 
day  as  to  the  manuring  action  and  effect  of  this  earth — and  still 
more  so  that  the  chemical  composition  and  ingredients  of  the 
earth  should  not  have  been  long  ago  ascertained.  Yet  previous  to 
the  recent  imperfect  application  of  tests  above  referred  to,  there 
had  been  no  known  full  or  correct  chemical  analysis  made  of  the 
earth  in  question ;  nor  even  any  partial  examination  for  and  report 
of  the  ingredients,  that  was  entitled  to  any  respect  for  accuracy 
and  fidelity.  For  these  reasons  I  engaged  the  services  of  Professor 
C.  U.  Shepard,  for  the  analyses  of  specimens  which  I  selected  from 
the  different  strata  of  the  earth,  at  Coggins  Point,  exposed  in  re- 
cent diggings,  including  several  which  had  been  tried  as  manure, 
and  had  operated  with  remarkable  power  and  benefit.  His  report 
of  the  partial  analyses,  which  has  been  received  since  the  preceding 
and  subsequent  portions  of  this  article  were  written,  will  now  be 

*  See  report  at  length  on  the  New  Jersey  green-sand,  and  its  operation, 
at  page  418,  vol.  x.,  Farmers'  Register.  This  deposit  is  of  secondary  for- 
mation, while  that  of  Virginia  is  of  the  tertiary.  This  difference  of  age  and 
probably  of  the  materials  of  the  formation  would  seem  to  indicate  a  differ- 
ence of  chemical  constitution — as  there  certainly  is  of  manuring  operation. 

f  [1  have  lately  heard  that  phosphate  of  lime  had  been  discovered  as  an 
ordinary  accompaniment  of  the  green-sand  of  New  Jersey,  in  the  clay 
Which  is  a  regularly  existing  ingredient.  I  do  not  know  what  reliance  may 
be  placed  on  this  report. — 1851.] 


GltEEN-SAND.  4G9 

presented.  It  enables  rac  to  furnish  more  of  what  is  valuable,  bc- 
oanse  more  certain  than  everything  rise  I  could  offer,  or  than  has 
before  been  offered  to  the  public  on  this  subject — prominent  as  it 
haa  been  made  in  the  reports  of  the  geological  survey  of  Virginia. 

"New  Haven,  October  20,  1842. 

"Dear  Sir — The  specimens  of  green-sand  and  accompanying  earths  have, 
agreeably  to  your  request,  received  my  particular  attention  ;  and  I  now 
proceed  to  apprise  you  of  the  results  at  which  I  have  arrived. 

"Commencing  with  the  mechanical  analysis  of  the  green-Band]  T  was  not 
a  little  surprised  to  find  that  the  green  particles,  when  cleared  by  washing 
of  a  slight  investment  of  clay,  assumed  the  aspect  of  chlorite  and  green 
earth,  and  more  rarely  of  grains  of  serpentine  and  fine  scales  of  mica.  The 
other  ingredients  of  the  earth  were  chiefly  grains  of  quartz  (some  of  which 
were  penetrated  by  chlorite),  and  more  rarely  specks  of  garnet,  iron  pyrites, 
and  what  appeared  to  be  yellow  phosphate  of  lime.  Fragments  of  shells, 
in  a  very  decayed  state,  occur  disseminated  through  the  earth  ;  and  I  de- 
tected also  small  teeth  and  bones  of  fishes.  The  proportions  of  the  leading 
ingredients  are  very  difficult  to  establish  with  precision;  and  after  all  my 
examinations  I  can  only  give  them  approximatively,  and  within  wide  limits. 
Thus,  the  quartz  grains  may  be  said  to  constitute  from  00  to  80  per  cent., 
the  ohloritic  and  micaceous  grains  from  10  to  16  percent.,  and  the  fine  clay 
from  3  to  5  per  cent. 

"  Nothing  is  plainer  than  that  the  green  particles  possess  the  character 
here  attributed  to  them;  since  they  put  on  all  the  properties  so  common  to 
chlorite,  being  sometimes  in  regular  hexagonal  plates,  though  usually  in 
little  granules  made  up  of  impalpable  grains,  which  under  the  pestle  easily 
separate,  with  an  oily  feel,  into  bright  green  specks.  Subjected  to  acids 
and  heat,  it  agrees  with  true  chlorite. 

"  The  existence  of  such  a  mineral  in  the  present  formation  offers  nothing 
remarkable  in  a  geological  point  of  view,  since  it  may  have  originated  ia 
the  decomposition  of  chlorite  slate  rocks,  or  of  veins  in  primitive  rocks  (in 
which  chlorite  often  abounds),  and  in  both  cases  iron  pyrites  is  its  common 
attendant.  Besides,  it  may  have  been  derived  from  the  metamorphosis  of 
pyroxene,  or  from  amygdaloidal  traps,  a  source  of  green  earth  very  often 
recognised  in  Europe  ami  America.  Indeed,  chlorite  (which  is  but  another 
name  for  green  talc)  is  often  interchanged  for  mica,  as  an  ingredient  of 
primitive  rocks,  and  is  everywhere  little  prone  to  decomposition,  being,  on 
the  whole,  one  of  the  most  persistent  of  the  simple  minerals. 

"Neither  can  it  be  objected  that  its  chemical  constitution  is  incompatible 
with  the  results  obtained  for  green  earth  ;  for  here  we  must  bear  in  mind, 
also,  that  it  is  impossible  accurately  to  separate  the  green  particles  from 
the  mica,  serpentine,  and  other  ingredients  with  which  they  are  associated. 

"  M.  Berthier  found  the  following  composition  in  the  green  grains  from 
the  green-sand  of  Havre  (France) — 

Silica 50.00 

Protoxide  of  iron 21.00 

Alumina     .     • 7.00 

Potassa 10.00 

Alumina 11.00 

99.00* 

"  Mr.  Seybert  found  in  that  of  New  Jersey — 

*  Geological  Manual,  by  H.  T.  de  la  Bcche,  Phila.,  1832,  p.  255. 
40 


470  ANALYSIS   OF   GREEN-SAND. 

Silica 49.68 

Alumina 0.00 

Magnesia 1.83 

Potasaa 10.12 

Water 9.80 

Protoxide  of  iron 21.53 

Loss 89 

100.00* 

"Prof.  Wm.  B.  Rogers  found  in  the  green-sand  of  Virginia — 

Silica "51.70 

Protoxide  of  iron 26.20 

Potassa 10.33 

Water 10. 

Magnesia,  a  trace 


97.23f 
"  The  foregoing  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  exhibition  of  the  composition  of 
the  green  particles  in  green-sand ;  and  the  following  analyses  may  serve  to 
show  the  constitution  of  such  chlorites  and  mica  as  may  be  presumed  to  be 
most  analogous  to  the  green  substances  in  the  earth  under  consideration. 
M.  Vauquelin  found  in  the  green-earth  of  Verona — 

Silica 52.00 

Magnesia 6.00 

Alumina 7.00 

Protoxide  of  iron 23.00 

Potassa 7.50 

"Water    .     .     .     .     • 4.00 


99.60} 

"  Dr.  Thomson  found  in  the  chlorite-earth,  from  the  highlands  of  Scot- 
land— 

Silica 48.1G6 

Magnesia 2.916 

Alumina 16.851 

Oxide  of  iron 19.000 

Potassa 6.558 

Lime 2.675 

"Water 2.350 


98.718? 
"The  composition  of  the  most  common  silvery  mica  fromZinwald  (Bohe- 
mia) was  ascertained  by  M.  Klaproth  to  be  the  following — 

Silica 47.00 

Alumina 20.00 

Potassa 14.50 

Ox.  iron 15.50 

Ox.  manganese 1.75 


98.75|| 
"  Having  described  the  grounds  on  which  I  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 

*  American  Journal  of  Science,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  277. 
-j-  Farmers'  Register,  vol.  ii.,  p.  131. 
J  Shepards'   Mineralogy,  vol.  ii.,  p.  225. 
^Idem,  ii.,  p.  225. 
||  Idem,  ii.,  p.  41. 


MODE   OF   ANALYSIS.  471 

the  green  grains  of  this  earth  are  chlorite,  or  chlorite  blended  with  mica, 

and  rarely  specks  of  serpentine,  I  cannot  but  express  the  opinion,  that  as  a 
mineral  manure  the  efficacy  of  the  green  particles  has  been  greatly  over- 
rated.  As  these  particles  are  very  little  liable  to  decomposition,  their  ac- 
tion, whatever  it  may  be,  must  be  slow,  and,  I  should  infer,  nearly  imper- 
ceptible. Indeed,  I  am  rather  disposed  to  regard  its  favourable  operation, 
if  indeed  it  has  any,  as  flowing  from  a  mechanical  agency,  after  the  man- 
ner of  a  clay,  than  as  arising  from  the  liberation  of  its  potassa  through 
chemical  decomposition.  Not  that  I  would  call  in  question  the  usefulness 
of  the  earth  taken  as  a  whole,  for  happily  this  is  too  well  established.  But 
when  1  find  a  decided  content  of  sulphate  of  lime,  with  carbonate  andphos- 
phate  of  lime  in  addition  thereto,  together  with  distinct  traces  of  organic 
matter,  it  appears  to  me  unnecessary  to  look  any  farther  in  order  to  account 
for  the  phenomena  in  the  case. 

"  I  now  proceed  to  state  my  method  of  examination,  together  with  fhe  re- 
sults obtained. 

"  The  specimens  were  kept  in  a  dry  room,  exposed  to  air  in  shallow  dishes, 
for  several  weeks;  after  which,  portions  free  from  crystals  of  sulphate  of 
lime  visible  by  the  naked  eye,  and  large  fragments  of  shells,  were  heated 
in  a  plat'ma  capsule  to  300°,  Fah.,  in  order  to  expel  bj'grometric  moisture, 
and  subsequently  tjp  low  redness,  to  decompose  organic  matter.*  The  or- 
ganic matter  is  very  inconsiderable,  and  was  in  no  instances  rigidly  de- 
termined. 

"  Having  ascertained  by  experiment  that  the  iron-pyrites  was  not  decom- 
posable by  tepid  dilute  hydrochloric  acid,  the  following  method  was  resorted 
to  for  the  determination  of  the  phosphate  of  lime.  Two  hundred  grains 
of  the  triturated  earth  were  sutfered  to  stand  (with  occasional  agitation)  in 
contact  with  a  dilute  hydrochloric  acid  for  three  hours.  The  whole  was 
then  transferred  to  a  filter,  and  the  earth  well  washed  thereon,  with  abund- 
ance of  tepid  water.  The  clear  fluid  and  washings  thus  obtained  were 
super-saturated  with  ammonia,  and  the  precipitate  subsequently  digested 
in  a  warm  potassic  solution  for  the  removal  of  the  silica  and  the  alumina. 
The  per-oxide  of  iron  and  phosphate  of  lime  now  remaining,  after  being 
well  washed,  were  treated  with  a  cold,  dilute  acetic  acid,  whereby  the 
phosphate  alone  was  taken  into  solution.  It  was  then  precipitated  by 
ammonia,  dried,  ignited,  and  weighed.  Having  found  reason  to  believe 
that  the  proportion  of  finely  divided  phosphate  of  lime  was  pretty  uniform 
in  the  different  specimens  of  the  green-sand,  I  was  only  at  the  pains  to 
determine  its  exact  proportion  in  specimen  No.  l.f  Having  ascertained 
how  much  per-oxide  of  iron  each  sample  contained,  this  amount  was  de- 
ducted from  that  yielded  by  the  treatment  of  the  same  specimen  with  nitro- 
hydrochlorio"  acid  (aided  by  gentle  heat),  whereby  the  sulphuret  of  iron 
was  decomposed.  Thus  the  exact  quantity  of  iron  which  was  engaged  by 
the  sulphur  (and  consequently  the  amount  of  bi-sulphuret  of  iron)  was 
ascertained. 

"  The  carbonate  of  lime  was  determined  in  the  usual  way,  viz.,  by  treating 
the  first  obtained  solution  in  hydrochloric  acid  with  ammonia,  whereby  the 

*This  last  step  was  always  attended  with  the  extrication  of  a  little  sul- 
phur. 

f  I  will  here  observe  that,  by  the  process  now  described,  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  bad  the  whole  of  the  precipitate  by  ammonia  from  the  hydro- 
chloric acid  solution  been  taken  for  phosphate  of  lime,  it  would  have  in- 
volved the  error  of  an  over-estimate  of  the  phosphate  by  nearly  800  per 
cent. 


472  ANALYSES    01'   GYPSEOUS   EARTH. 

silica,  alumina,  per-oxide  of  iron,  an<l  phosphate  of  lime  were  thrown  down, 
leaving  the  lime  and  magnesia  alone  in  a  state  of  suspension.  The  former 
was  precipitated  by  oxalate  of  ammonia,  and  subsequently  the  latter  by 
phosphoric  acid. 

"The  sulphate  of  lime  was  ascertained  by  boiling  a  determinate  quantity 
of  the  green-sand  in  water  until  the  whole  of  this  salt  present  was  taken 
into  solution.  The  clear  solution  was  treated  with  chloride  of  barium,  and 
the  sulphate  of  baryta  ignited  and  weighed.  The  sulphuric  acid  present  in 
the  earth  was  thus  arrived  at,  and,  by  subsequent  calculation,  the  sulphate 
of  lime  originally  present  was  ascertained. 

"  Sulphate  of  alumina  (but  no  sulphate  of  iron)  was  found  to  exist,  in 
traces,  by  the  precipitation  of  alumina,  occasioned  on  the  treatment  of 
the  water  boiled  on  the  earth  with  ammonia.  But  in  each  case  it  was  too 
inconsiderable  for  the  determination  of  its  proportion.  Chloride  of  calcium 
(muriate  of  lime)  was  ascertained  by  treating  the  same  fluid  with  nitrate 
of  silver.  Its  proportion  did  not  exceed  that  in  which  it  exists  also  in 
common  soils. 

"  Results  obtained  on  specimens  of  green-sand  earth  from  Coggins  Point,  James 

river. 

"  'No.  1.  From  8  inches  within  the  exposed  side  of  a  ravine,  where  a 
stream  flowed  by,  and  15  feet  from  the  top  of  the  green  earth.'*  [Mid- 
dle part  of  stratum  D,  see  page  4G5.] 

Hygrometric  moisture  (lost  at  300°)    .     .     .     5.50 
By  heating  to  low  redness,  it  lost  in  addition     2.03 

Phosphate  of  lime 0.25 

Carbonate  of  magnesia,  in  decided  traces. 
Sulphate  of  alumina,  in  traces. 
"  'No.  3.  Same  as  number  1,  except  from  a  deeper  excavation.' 
Hygrometric  moisture  (lost  at  300°)    .     .     .     4.600 
By  heating  to  low  redness,  it  lost  in  addition     2.200 

Carbonate  of  lime 1.550 

Bi-sulphuret  of  iron 3. 006 

Carbonate  of  magnesia  and  sulphate  of  alumina  in  traces. 
Phosphate  of  lime,  about  as  in  number  1. 

Sulphate  of  lime 0.813 

"  '  No.  6.  Three  feet  below  the  river  beach  [from  pit,  lower  part  of  D, 
half  a  mile  distant  from  preceding."1] 

Hygrometric  moisture 5.400 

By  heating  to  low  redness,  it  lost  in  addition     2.060 

Carbonate  of  lime 0.535 

Bi-sulphuret  of  iron 2.060 

Sulphate  of  lime 0.661 

Carbonate  of  magnesia  and  sulphate  of  alumina  in  traces. 
Phosphate  of  lime  as  in  number  1. 
"'No.  9.  See  foregoing,  page  465.     This  alone  having  sulphuret  of  iron 
visible  in  powder,  or  minute  crystals ;'  [taken  from    14  feet  below  the 
beach,  in  E.~\ 

*  This  specimen  was  not  thoroughly  analyzed,  and  therefore  the  contents 
are  reported  but  in  part.  The  next  (No.  3)  was  deemed  the  most  important, 
and  a  more  correct  specimen  of  this  layer  (D),  and  therefore  to  it  the 
examination  of  Prof.  Shepard  was  especially  requested,  and  was  so  directed. 
It  is  therefore  that  the  contents  of  bi-sulphuret  of  iron,  carbonate  of  lime, 
and  sulphate  of  lime  are  not  stated  of  No.  1,  as  in  No.  3.     E.  K. 


ANALYSES   OF   GYPSEOUS   EARTH.  473 

Carbonate  of  lime 2.350 

Bi-sulphuret  of  iron 5.821 

Sulphate  of  lime  2.309 

(Carbonate  of  magnesia  not  found.) 

"  'No.  10.  Several  thin  layers  of  compressed  shells,  1  to  3  inches  thick" 
[contained  in  stratum  E.~\ 

Carbonate  of  lime 50. 00 

Phosphate  of  lime 0.84 

"No.  2.  [/>]  from  4  feet  lower  than  number  1,  was  examined  with  results 
similar  to  1  and  3. 

"  No.  4.  [/>]  from  4  feet  below  beach,  and  half  a  mile  from  number  1 ,  was 
found  to  be  rich  in  sulphate  of  lime  and  to  contain  bi-sulphuret  of  iron. 

"  No.  5.  [Z>]  '  From  another  spot,  and  has  since  been  oxposed  to  the 
weather  from  last  winter  to  June  on  the  field  where  applied  as  manure.' 
Is  richer  than  No.  2  or  4  in  sulphate  of  lime,  but  inferior  to  cither  in  bi- 
sulphuret  of  iron.  It  likewise  affords  more  sulphate  of  alumina  than  any 
sample  examined. 

"  'No.  11.  The  clay  at  16  to  18  feet  deep;'  [supposed  when  selected  to 
be  the  poorest  part  of  stratum  E.] 

Carbonate  of  lime 1.45 

"  It  is  rich  in  sulphate  of  lime,  and  has  traces  of  sulphate  of  alumina, 
and  bi-sulphuret  of  iron. 

"  It  is  to  be  kept  in  mind  that  in  these  analyses  no  account  is  taken  of 
such  sized  crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime  as  readily  meet  the  eye,  or  of  large 
fragments  of  shells,  the  occasional  presence  of  both  which  must  often 
essentially  enhance  the  gypseous  and  calcareous  contents  of  these  samples. 
The  proportions  in  which  they  may  occur  at  different  depths  and  localities 
can  readily  be  determined,  however,  by  the  practical  agriculturist.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  phosphatic  ingredient  so  far  as  the  teeth  and 
bones  of  fishes  are  concerned. 

If  we  assume  the  average  proportion  of  bi-sulphuret  of  iron  in  these 
earths  to  be  2  per  cent.,  and  suppose  the  whole  of  the  sulphate  to  become 
oxydized,  it  would  give  rise  to  2.722  per  cent,  of  sulphuric  acid ;  to  saturate 
which  would  require  1.905  of  lime,  and  thereby  produce  4. 027  per  cent, 
of  (anhydrous)  sulphate  of  lime.  But  2.722  of  lime  would  demand  3.383 
per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  soil.  Now  in  the  three  analyses  (Nos. 
3,  G,  and  9),  made,  the  bi-sulphuret  of  iron,  by  average,  equals  3.049  per 
cent.,  and  the  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  same  equals  but  1.478  per  cent. — 
a  quantity  too  small  for  the  saturation  of  the  acid,  even  after  a  liberal 
allowance  is  made  for  the  increase  of  calcareous  matter  from  the  occasional 
presence  of  large  fragments  of  shells. 

"It  would  therefore  appear  to  be  an  obvious  deduction  from  these  inqui- 
ries, that  dressings  of  lime,  and  especially  of  calcareous  bands,  like  No. 
10,  should  be  employed  in  conjunction  with  the  green-sand  soil. 

"  Having  now  replied  in  the  best  way  I  am  able  to  your  various  inquiries, 
I  leave  it  for  you  to  make  such  other  practical  inferences  from  the  inform- 
ation afforded  as  in  your  more  experienced  judgment  it  may  seem  to 
authorize — and  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ClIAELES    UrilAM    SlIErAED." 

"Edmund  Ruffin*,  Esq." 

The  specimens  numbered  above  1,  2,  3,  were  from  one  locality, 

and  of  earth  which  was  used  as  manure  for  clover  of  this  vear, 

on  marled  land,  with  effect  as  great  as  any  ever  known;  and  with 

no  certain  benefit  on  an  adjoining  space  (also  in  clover),  of  the 

40* 


474        GYPSUM  THE  OPERATIVE  INGREDIENT. 

same  soil  naturally,  but  not  marled.  Numbers  4,  5,  and  6,  were 
from  the  pit  dug"  in  the  beach,  half  a  mile  distant,  apparently 
similar  to  each  other,  and  to  the  preceding  specimens.  All  these 
are  of  the  dark  stratum  (D)  richest  in  green-sand  (except  the 
lowest,  E ),  and  all  before  rated  by  me  as  containing  50  per  cent, 
of  the  pure  granules.  Professor  Rogers  stated  the  same  to  contain 
60  to  70  per  cent.  (See  F.  Register,  vol.  ii.,  p.  750.)  Even  if  leaving 
the  creen-sand  out  of  consideration,  and  out  of  the  estimate  of 
value,  there  would  still  remain  enough  of  active  manuring  princi- 
ples to  produce  a  large  share  (at  least)  of  the  beneficial  effects  which 
I  have  found  from  the  use  of  this  earth ;  and  I  have  heard  of  but 
few  other  applications  in  Virginia,  other  than  those  made  on  Cogging 
Point  farm,  and  of  none  with  different  or  better  certain  effects. 
With  the  help  of  surplus  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  soil  (furnished 
by  nature  or  hy  previous  marling  or  liming),  100  bushels  of  this 
earth,  averaging  in  strength  the  ingredients  of  these  specimens 
analyzed  by  Professor  Shepard,  would  furnish  nearly  5  bushels  of 
pure  sulphate  of  lime  (gypsum) ;  and  40  bushels  to  the  acre  would 
furnish  2  bushels  of  sulphate  of  lime.  Not  one  of  these  specimens 
contained  any  gypsum  visible  to  the  eye ;  and  but  one  specimen 
(number  9)  contained  any  visible  sulphuret  of  iron  j  and  therefore 
these  ingredients  may  be  fairly  supposed  to  be  at  least  as  abundant 
in  the  earth  dug  in  any  considerable  operation.  "What  the  green- 
sand  or  any  other  ingredients  ma}r  do  in  addition,  I  pretend  not  to 
estimate.  But  so  far  as  I  have  learned  from  my  own  experience 
and  all  known  experience  of  other  persons,  the  whole  operation  of 
this  earth,  when  used  alone,  is  precisely  of  such  kind  as  I  would 
anticipate  from  gypsum,  though  yielding  more  of  benefit  in  mea- 
sure and  value.  Nor  should  I  therefore  be  understood  as  placing 
a  low  estimate  on  the  value  of  the  effects  produced.  Since  seeing 
the  effects  this  year,  and  especially  since  having  formed  the  opinion 
that  the  upper  and  exposed  parts  (most  generally  used  formerly) 
are  comparatively  worthless  and  should  be  avoided,  I  count  on 
much  benefit  being  derived  from  this  manure,  and  am  desirous  that 
it  shall  be  largely  used;  as  my  son  and  partner,  and  the  sole  _ 
director  of  our  farming,  proposes  to  do  for  the  next  year's  growth 
of  clover.  Still,  I  am  now  as  far  as  ever  from  believing  in  or  ex- 
pecting such  great  and  regular  benefit  as  would  be  inferred  to  be 
certain  from  views  and  statements  which  rest  upon  the  authority 
of  the  former  geological  surveyor  of  Virginia.* 


*  Professor  Shepard.  in  the  above  letter,  asserts  the  identity  of  the  gra- 
nules of  ••  green-sand,"'  with  chlorite,  or  green  talc.  The  proportions  of 
the  constituents  of  chlorite  are  far  from  being  uniform ;  though  the  same 
kinds  are  usually  found,  in  various  proportions.  Of  these,  magnesia  seems 
to  be  always  present.     If  so,  may  not  this  be  an  important  manuring  ele- 


EOCENE   GREEN-SAND    MARL. 


475 


It  may  not  be  useless  to  note  another  point  of  recent  resemblance 
between  these  two  manures,  both  of  which  seem  so  capricious  and 
uncertain  in  operation  in  general.  This  year  (1842),  the  applica- 
tions of  the  green  earth  on  the  Coggins  Point  farm,  whether  made 
in  the  beginning  of  the  winter  preceding,  in  March,  or  in  the  be- 
ginning of  summer,  have  acted  more  quickly  and  powerfully  than 
any  known  before.  This  I  had  ascribed  to  the  earth  being  mostly 
obtained  from  deeper  excavations.  But  I  have  lately  heard,  from 
Messrs.  Hill  Carter  and  John  A.  Selden,  both  extensive  and  ex- 
perienced and  successful  users  of  gypsum,  that  they  have  never 
before  known  the  good  effects  of  that  manure  to  be  so  remarkable 
as  in  all  their  applications  of  this  year. 

(rf.)  Eocene  green-sand  marl. 

Except  in  the  lower  stratum  exposed  in  the  pit  recently  dug  at 
Evergreen,  this  peculiar  and  valuable  kind  of  marl  has  not  yet  been 
known  to  me  in  Virginia  elsewhere  than  on  and  near  the  borders 
of  the  Pamunkey  river;  though  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that 
this  or  other  eocene  deposits  are  to  be  found  elsewhere  than  within 
the  limits  here  stated  of  the  now  known  localities.  It  is  more  than 
probable  that  other  rivers  cut  through  and  expose  some  of  the  eocene 
as  well  as  miocene  deposits;  and  that  deep  diggings  would  reach 
them  also  in  the  intervening  high  lands.  The  Pamunkey  eocene 
formation  is  seen  first,  or  exposed  most  south-eastward,  at  North- 
bury  in  New  Kent  county;  and  it  is  found  (either  as  marl  or  gyp- 
seous earth)  on  nearly  every  farm  above,  to  South  Wales,  in  Hano- 
ver, the  farm  of  Mr.  William  F.  Wickham,  just  below  the  junction 
of  the  North  Anna  and  South  Anna  rivers,  and  on  North  Wales, 
the  farm  of  Mr.  Williams  Carter,  across  the  Pamunkey,  in  Caroline 
county.     This  distance  in  a  straight  line  is  about  22  miles;  and 

ment  of  our  green-sand  earth,  as  well  as  that  of  New  Jersey  ?  Cleaveland 
gives  the  following  contents  of  three  different  kinds  of  chlorite,  ascertained 
by  different  chemists: 


Chlorite — analyzed  by 

A'auqucliri. 

Klaproth. 

Iloepfner. 

100  parts  consisted  of 

Silex 

26. 

53. 

41.15 

Alumina    ..... 

18.5 

12. 

6.13 

Magnesia           .... 

8. 

3.5 

39.47 

Lime          ..... 

0. 

2.5 

1.5 

Oxide  of  iron    .... 

43. 

17. 

10.15 

Muriate  of  soda  and  potash 

2. 

0. 

0. 

Water 

2. 

11. 

09. 

1.5 

90.50 

00.90 

Vauquelin  found  a  specimen  of  common  talc  to  contain  27  per  cent,  of 
magnesia. — Oka  vt  land. 


476  GREEN-SAND   OR   GYPSEOUS   MARL. 

the  very  ■winding  course  of  the  Pamunkey  serves  to  make  the  ex- 
posure of  the  bed  of  marl  show  an  average  width  of  three  or  more 
miles.  Throughout  this  area,  it  is  found  in  great  abundance  at 
numerous  points — though  of  great  variety  of  appearance  and  of 
value  at  different  elevations,  and  in  very  different  degrees  of  access, 
or  ease  of  working. 

This  marl  everywhere  has  its  calcareous  portion  (which  is  usually 
small  in  comparison  to  good  miocene  marls)  intermixed  with  a 
large  proportion  of  green-sand.  Tbe  calcareous  earth  varies  from 
10  to  40  per  cent,  at  different  diggings,  or  different  layers  at  the 
same  locality ;  and  the  green-sand  perhaps  from  10  to  30  per  cent, 
as  estimated  by  the  eye.  In  some  places,  the  one  ingredient  pre- 
dominates in  quantity,  and  elsewhere  the  other.  No  one  specimen 
has  been  found  rich  in  both  of  these  ingredients. 

There  are  various  and  very  different  kinds  of  earth,  if  considered 
in  reference  to  their  chemical  constitution  and  cpialities,  and  values 
as  manure,  which  together  make  up  this  extensive  area  and  great 
depth  of  the  eocene  formation ;  and  all  of  which  varieties,  however 
different,  have  in  common  been  deemed  and  termed  marl  by  the 
people  of  the  neighbourhood.  That  all  these  various  earths  belong 
to  the  same  eocene  formation  is  evident  from  the  fossil  remains,  or 
from  other  as  certain  proofs  where  there  are  no  such  remains  visi- 
ble. The  principal  and  most  notable  of  these  different  earths  will 
be  here  described. 

The  most  extensive  exposure  of  calcareous  marl,  which  I  will 
designate  as  L,  (and  embraces  beds  4  and  5  in  the  profile  view, 
which  will  be  hereafter  given),  is  along  the  river  for  five  or  six  miles 
in  a  straight  course,  above  and  below  Newcastle  ferry ;  and  a  very 
much  longer  course,  if  following  the  crooked  course  of  the  Pamun- 
key. This  marl  is  more  than  24  feet  thick  at  Clifton,  the  farm  of 
Mr.  J.  W.  Tomlin,  next  below  Newcastle  ferry.  From  that  locality, 
it  becomes  thinner  in  the  extensions  both  up  and  down  the  river. 
At  two  miles  above  the  thickest  part,  it  gradually  thins  out  to 
nothing,  in  Marlbourne  farm  (my  own  property)  ;  and  before  reach- 
ing the  nearest  outline  of  Marlbourne,  this  marl  (L)  is  barely  -  feet 
thick,  and  not  worth  for  use  the  cost  of  removing  the  overlying 
drift  or  other  earth.  This  marl  and  all  the  other  accompanying 
beds,  are  inclined;  the  dip  being  towards  the  east  or  south-east. 
The  ancient  flood  proceeding  from  the  north-west  had  washed  away 
the  highest  raised  western  parts  of  all  these  beds,  and  reduced  them 
to  their  now  nearly  horizontal  surface;  and  this  ancient  "denu- 
ding" action  is  the  cause  of  this  marl,  and  the  other  beds,  succes- 
sively thinning  out  at  the  surface  as  proceeding  up  the  river. 

This  most  extensively  exposed  body  of  mail  is  of  four  principal 
kinds,  without  noticing  some  less  important  differences.  The  lower 
6  or  7  feet  of  its  thickness  (x)  and  which  includes  all  of  4  in  the 


GREEN-SAND   OR   G1TSEOUS   MARL.  477 

figure,  except  the  black  line  at  bottom),  is  the  richest  in  calcareous 
matter,  and  much  the  best  as  manure.  This  is  mostly  of  compact 
ami  uniform  earthy  texture  and  appearance — of  dark  gray  colour, 
with  a  greenish  tint  in  some  cases.  The  shelly  matter,  for  the 
greater  part,  is  finely  reduced,  the  fragments  being  generally  so 
Bmall  as  uot  to  be  obvious  to  the  sight.  But  few  shells,  mostly  of 
the  harder  gray  kinds,  remain  entire ;  and  of  these,  the  saddle  oyster 
furnishes  nearly  all  of  the  perfect  and  still  very  hard  specimens. 
Near  to  the  bottom  of  this  layer  the  marl  is  somewhat  softer  and 
poorer,  and  yet  the  entire  though  very  soft  shells  arc  there  nu- 
merous. This  marl  (x)  contains  from  35  to  more  than  40  per  cent. 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  on  an  average. 

Above  this  richer  part  (x),  the  marl  (marked  5  in  the  figure)  is 
softer,  and  in  some  degree  admits  the  slow  penetration  of  water,  to 
which  the  other  marl  (x)  is  a  perfect  barrier.  In  other  respects 
this  (y)  appears  to  the  eye  very  similar,  and  not  less  rich  in  calca- 
reous matter  than  that  below.  But  in  fact  it  docs  not  contain  more 
than  proportions  varying  from  30  to  as  little  as  11  per  cent.,  and 
usually  becoming  poorer  as  nearer  to  the  top  of  this  layer.  This 
marl  (y),  more  generally  than  the  richer  below,  I  have  found  to 
contain  finely  divided  sulphuret  (or  bi-sulphuret)  of  iron,  as  doe3 
the  gypseous  earth  of  James  river,  and  also  the  gypseous  earth  of 
Pamuukey.  This  combination  of  sulphur  and  iron,  when  exposed 
to  air,  changes  gradually  to  sulphate  of  iron  (copperas) ;  and  this 
last,  and  the  carbonate  of  lime  of  the  marl,  decompose  each  other, 
and  one  of  the  new  products  is  sulphate  of  lime  (gypsum),  in  place 
of  proportional  quantities  of  the  decomposed  copperas  and  shelly 
matter.  This  process  has  doubtless  been  proceeding  for  ages  in  the 
bed,  though  very  slowly  for  want  of  air;  and  has  served  to  remove 
much  of  the  formerly  existing  shelly  matter — which  was  first  thus 
changed  to  sulphate  of  lime,  and  this  soluble  substance  was  then 
mostly  carried  off  by  the  slowly  percolating  water.  This  decom- 
position and  subsequent  removal  of  the  lime  also  served  to  make 
pervious  the  before  compact  and  impervious  marl,  and  thus  per- 
mitted more  easily  the  progress  of  further  decomposition  and  re- 
moval of  the  former  calcareous  portion.  However  much  of  the 
produced  gypsum  has  been  thus  slowly  dissolved  and  removed,  there 
is  still  a  considerable  proportion  remaining.  Thus,  this  part  (y), 
especially,  not  only  contains  a  notable  proportion  of  gypsum  before 
formed  by  this  process,  and  not  yet  removed  in  solution  by  the 
slowly  percolating  water — but  there  is  also  generally  present  (in  y 
especially),  more  of  material,  in  the  as  yet  undecomposed  sulphuret, 
to  form  more  gypsum  hereafter.  I  infer  that  this  mode  of  conver- 
sion of  part  of  the  carbonate  to  sulphate  of  lime  has  served  to  more 
or  less  diminish,  and  in  some  layers  to  remove  entirely,  the  consi- 
derable amount  of  carbonate  of  lime  formerly  contained.     More 


478  GREEN-SAND   OR   GYrSEOUS   MARL. 

carbonate  must  be  so  changed  to  sulphate  of  lime,  after  any  marl 
which  still  contains  sulphuret  of  iron,  is  applied  as  manure.  The 
exposure  to  air  (and  attraction  of  oxygen)  will  soon  convert  the 
yet  remaining  sulphuret  to  sulphate  of  iron;  and  this  will  imme- 
diately act  on  the  carbonate  of  lime,  in  contact,  and  so  form  sul- 
phate of  lime.  This  proportion  of  gypsum,  either  ready  formed,  or 
soon  to  be  formed,  making  altogether  from  2  to  6  per  cent,  of  the 
marl,  is  one  of  the  main  sources  of  the  early  (but,  as  I  anticipate, 
transient)  fertilizing  effects  of  this  and  other  varieties,  which  are 
poor  in  calcareous  matter.  The  long  continued  action  of  the  sul- 
phuret of  iron  (which  seems  to  be  still  generally  present,  and  may 
be  inferred  to  have  been  universal  at  first  in  all  the  beds)  is  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  the  partial  or  total  disappearance  of  shells,  and 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  in  nearly  all  these  layers  of  the  one  great 
eocene  bed  of  marl  and  gypseous  earth,  both  of  Pamunkey  and 
James  river. 

A  third  variety  (h)  exists  but  in  few  places,  and  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  river.  It  is  the  highest  of  this  whole  calcareous  bed- 
is  dry  and  yellowish  (being  nearly  or  quite  destitute  of  green-sand 
and  organic  colouring  matter),  and  though  as  rich  in  carbonate  of 
lime  as  the  average  of  the  whole  stratum  (and  richer  than  all  y),  it 
is  much  inferior  in  fertilizing  effects,  at  least  for  some  years,  and  as 
long  as  they  have  been  separately  observed.  It  may  be  inferred 
that  this  light-coloured  marl  is  not  only  without  the  potash  (which 
green-sand  contains  in  small  proportion),  but  also  without  gypsum  ; 
and,  like  nearly  all  miocene  marls,  acts  only  by  its  carbonate  of 
lime. 

A  fourth  variety  (2)  is  the  universal  thin  bottom  layer  of  this 
calcareous  stratum  (and  below  x — represented  by  the  broad  black 
line  in  the  figure),  which  forms  a  continuous  layer  of  separate 
stony  lumps,  like  a  pavement,  and  varying  from  6  to  15  inches 
thick.  These  stony  masses  contain  60  per  cent,  or  more  of  car- 
bonate of  lime.  Being  difficult  to  dig,  and  to  raise,  this  layer  is 
usually  left  by  most  marlers.  On  account  of  its  greater  richness,  I 
deem  it  the  most  valuable  for  its  quantity.  In  a  few  years  after 
being  ploughed  under  the  soil,  most  of  these  lumps  are  softened 
enough  to  crumble. 

These  several  layers  of  this  one  general  calcareous  stratum  con- 
stitute the  marl  mostly  used  in  latter  years,  by  the  marling  farmers 
of  this  neighbourhood.  My  own  use  has  embraced  all  these  varie- 
ties, but  was  mostly  of  the  more  compact  earthy  marl  (.r),  as  that 
was  in  greatest  quantity. 

Another  bed  of  rich  calcareous  marl  (M,)  is  exposed  for  the  few 
miles  of  the  most  western  extremity  of  the  general  eocene  forma- 
tion, in  the  farms  of  South  Wales  in  Hanover,  and  North  Wales 
in  Caroline  county,  and  extending  nearly  to  the  lowest  part  of  the 


OLIVE   EARTII.  479 

granite  range,  which  makes  the  falls  of  this  and  other  rivers.  This 
marl  is  darker  coloured  (nearly  black  in  the  bed),  and  apparently 
richer  in  green-sand  than  the  former  kinds,  and  also- nearly  as  rich 
as  the  best  (x)  iu  carbonate  of  lime.  I  found  of  this  bed,  in  dif- 
ferent specimens  selected  by  myself  from  the  pits  of  Messrs.  Wm. 
F.  Wickham  and  Williams  Carter,  proportions  varying  from  32.50 
to  44  per  cent.  This  kind  also  contains  some  finely  divided  and 
diffused  sulphuret  of  iron;  and  consequently,  gypsum,  if  not  al- 
ready present  (as  I  infer  is  always  the  case),  must  be  formed  from 
the  changes  of  the  sulphuret  after  the  application  of  the  marl. 

This  bed,  though  lying  the  highest,  where  exposed,  in  its  pre- 
sent level  and  elevation,  is  the  lowest  in  order  of  all  the  different 
beds  of  this  great  eocene  formation.  Below  it  is  a  bed  of  gravelly 
sand  and  rounded  pebbles,  without  any  appearance  of  fossil  remains, 
or  marine  deposition. 

For  some  12  miles  (if  in  a  straight  line,  but  following  the  much 
longer  course  of  the  river),  and  stretching  from  the  final  thinning 
out  of  the  marl  (x,  or  4),  in  Marlbourne  farm  to  the  first  appear- 
ance (of  M,  or  1)  in  South  Wales,  the  whole  interval  is  filled  by 
different  layers  and  kinds  of  green  or  gypseous  earth.  The  general 
appearance  is  much  like  that  of  Coggins  Point,  before  described, 
but  generally  containing  some  little  admixture  of  shells.  For  a 
considerable  part  of  this  exposure,  this  gypseous  earth  is  as  desti- 
tute of  shelly  matter,  and  as  deficient  in  other  fertilizing  matters, 
as  I  have  found,  or  supposed,  to  be  the  upper  or  exposed  parts  of 
the  James  river  gypseous  earth.  In  some  layers  there  is  enough 
of  shelly  matter  to  make  from  2  to  5  per  cent,  of  the  mass.  Also 
there  are  some  bands  of  a  few  inches  thick  only,  quite  rich  in  shells. 
In  other  places,  there  is  no  carbonate  of  lime ;  and  although  some 
gypsum  and  less  potash  must  be  present  (as  in  general  of  all  these 
eocene  beds),  this  poorer  earth  (miscalled  "  marl")  has  been  found, 
when  used  as  manure,  of  little  effect,  and  less  profit. 

Overlying  all  the  exposed  upper  marl  and  green  earth  of  this 
whole  eocene  formation  (and  also  extending  south-eastward  over 
the  nearest  miocene)  is  an  unconformable  layer  of  variable  but 
always  small  thickness  of  what  is  here  known  as  "  olive  earth," 
from  its  greenish  brown  colour.  (It  is  designated  by  the  broad 
irregular  band  o,  o,  in  the  figure.)  It  varies  from  a  few  inches  to 
4  feet  of  thickness — is  not  uniform  in  texture — but  usually  very 
adhesive  (as  found  wet  in  the  bed),  and  difficult  to  remove.  My 
observations  have  satisfied  me  that  this  earth  was  formerly  marl, 
or  rather  a  mixture  of  all  the  different  layers  of  marl  and  green 
earth  now  below,  which  after  being  washed  up  by  the  violent  cur- 
rent of  the  ancient  denuding  flood, was,  during  a  cessation  of  the 
greatest  violence  of  the  current,  deposited  over  the  whole  before 
denuded  and  then  bare  surface.     Subsequently,  the  violence  of  tho 


480  OLIVE   EARTH. 

current  WH  renewed,  and  with  it  were  brought  and  deposited  the 
layers  of  drifted  pebbles,  sandy  gravel  first,  and  nest  sand,  which 
now  overlie  all  the  olive  earth  and  eocene  formation.  This  lower 
sandy  gravel  is  ferruginous,  and  everywhere  supplies  ferruginous 
spring-water,  and  probably  the  impregnation  being  partly  in  the 
form  of  sulphate  of  iron.  Both  the  sulphates  of  iron  and  of 
alumina  are  sometimes  perceptible  to  the  sight  and  taste,  in  these 
strata.  The  slowly  oozing  spring-water  thus  bringing  either  of 
these  salts  of  sulphuric  acid,  must  gradually  decompose  any  carbo- 
nate of  lime  in  contact.  And  hence,  the  higher  deposit  of  what  is 
now  olive  earth,  being  permeable  by  water,  has  had  all  its  former 
carbonate  of  lime  changed  to  gypsum,  and  this,  in  solution,  mostly 
removed  by  the  water  passing  off.  If  these  suppositions  are  correct, 
the  olive  earth  ought  still  to  contain  all  that  it  did  formerly,  when 
it  was  marl,  except  the  carbonate  of  lime ;  and  with  some  increase 
of  sulphate  of  lime.  Hence,  this  earth  ought  to  have  more  or  less 
of  fertilizing  value — and  enough  to  be  worth  using,  especially  as 
its  very  laborious  excavation  and  removal  have  always  to  be 
effected,  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  the  marl  below.  But  it  was 
universally  believed  that  the  olive  earth  was  useless ;  and  it  was 
put  to  no  use,  not  only  by  those  farmers  who  had  good  marl  below, 
but  by  others  who  encountered  all  the  labour  of  uncovering,  and 
removing  this  sticky  and  troublesome  layer,  to  reach  merely  the 
gypseous  earth  below,  probably  worth  no  more  than  the  olive  earth, 
except  for  its  very  small  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime.  While 
I  drew  marl  from  other  land  to  my  present  farm,  the  distance  was 
too  great  for  me  to  try  this  olive  earth  as  manure.  But  since  I 
have  (very  lately)  discovered  good  marl,  of  workable  thickness,  on 
Marlboume  farm,  I  have  carried  out  all  the  overlying  olive  earth, 
though  it  is  more  sandy  here  than  is  usually  found.  I  had  begun 
this  course  before  having  heard  of  any  useful  effect  of  such  appli- 
cation. But  since  (in  the  summer  of  1852),  I  have  learned  very 
remarkable  effects  of  other  (and  probably  much  richer)  olive  earth, 
as  tried  by  two  neighbouring  farmers,  Messrs.  Henry  Jones  and 
John  Beaie.  The  most  accurate  and  conclusive  of  these  trials 
(though  all  were  very  beneficial)  was  an  application  of  this  earth 
alone,  400  bushels  to  the  acre,  on  stiff  and  poor  (long  exhausted) 
land.  The  application  was  made  for  the  corn  crop  of  1850,  and 
produced  not  much,  if  any,  perceptible  effect.  The  benefit  was 
much  greater,  though  still  small,  on  the  succeeding  crop  of  wheat. 
But  of  the  next  following  clover,  which  I  saw  in  May  and  June, 
1  852,  the  growth  was  more  luxuriant  than  any  on  the  richest  other 
land;  and  the  effect  of  the  olive  earth  alone,  was  greater  on  the 
clover  (as  compared  with  adjacent  grouud  without  this  or  other 
dressing)  than  from  marl,  with  its  uncpuestionable  accompaniment 
of  gypsum,  or  other  manure  elsewhere  on  similar  lands  of  this 


GYPSEOUS   EARTH   OF   PAMUNKEY.  481 

neighbourhood.  Still,  I  believe  that  gypsum  is  the  principal  ma- 
nuring principle — and  that  these  wonderful  effects  will  therefore 
be  confined  mostly  to  clover  (or  other  leguminous  plants),  durin*' 
its  temporary  action.  The  remains  of  bones  and  teeth  also  are 
more  numerous  in  this  olive  earth  (immediately  above  the  marl) 
than  anywhere  lower;  and  hence  this  layer,  apparently,  is  better 
supplied  with  phosphate  of  lime — a  manure  of  very  great  and 
peculiar  value  for  other  crops,  and  especially  for  wheat. 

All  these  different  beds,  or  thinner  layers  and  varieties,  of  this 
great  eocene  formatiou,  except  the  high  yellowish  layer  («),  con- 
tain either  a  considerable  or  a  large  proportion  of  green-sand — 
and  of  course  some  little  potash — which,  as  chemists  inform  us,  is 
a  universal  though  small  proportion  of  green-sand.  Also,  from 
the  very  general  indications  either  of  white  and  tasteless  efflores- 
cence, or  of  manifest  sulphuret  of  iron,  or  both,  I  infer  that  gypsum 
also  is  a  very  general,  if  not  a  universal  ingredient,  to  some  amount. 

Until  within  the  few  latter  years,  all  the  various  layers  and 
qualities  of  the  whole  eocene  formation,  were  confounded  in  com- 
mon understanding  and  parlance,  through  this  neighbourhood,  under 
tbe  one  name  of  "marl."  The  green  or  gypseous  earth  was  used 
indiscriminately  with  tbe  calcareous  marl,  by  those  proprietors  who 
had  both  exposed  by  the  same  excavations,  without  their  looking 
for  or  observing  any  difference  of  operation.  The  existence  of  this 
strange  error,  and  its  general  continuance  (in  this  neighbourhood) 
for  eight  or  ten  years,  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  tbe  following 
circumstances  :  The  two  different  layers  were  generally  obtained  in 
the  same  excavations,  and  were  more  or  less  mixed  in  use — and 
never  kept  entirely  separate  for  experiment :  The  soils  (of  Pamun- 
key  low-ground)  being  mostly  or  nearly  neutral,  did  not  exhibit 
much  effect  from  marl  on  the  earlier  grain  crops,  (as  acid  and  much 
worse  soils  would  have  done — )  and  when  clover  followed,  the  great 
benefit  which  that  crop  always  received  from  the  large  quantity  of 
gypsum  in  the  green  earth,  even  if  with  very  little  admixture  of 
calcareous  matter,  would  make  nearly  as  much  show  on  tbat  crop 
as  the  marl  alone.  And  before  these  early  and  transient  benefits 
of  gypsum  would  be  ended,  perhaps  another  slight  dressing  of 
marl  would  be  applied,  or  some  other  treatment  which  would  help 
to  conceal  the  respective  operations  of  these  different  manuring 
earths. 

But  more  lately,  no  farmer  of  this  neighbourhood  has  deemed 
the  green  earth  worth  applying  as  manure,  if  he  could  obtain 
marl.  Still,  some  who  have  easy  access  to  tbe  former  only,  have 
begun  its  use  within  the  last  few  years,  and  so  far,  they  report 
encouraging  results — which  the  gypsum,  with  very  little  shelly 
matter,  can  furnish  for  a  few  years.  And  so  inveterate  is  esta- 
blished error,  that  some  other  farmers,  even  to  this  dav,  would 
41      i  J, 


432  INUTILITY   OF   GREEN-SAND   AS   MANURE. 

prefer  a  green-sand  marl,  however  poor  in  carbonate  of  lime,  to 
any  miocene  (or  other)  marl  thrice  as  rich  in  the  latter  and  all-im- 
portant ingredient,  but  destitute  of  the  misunderstood  and  there- 
fore highly  prized  green-sand.  This  erroneous  view  is  the  result 
(and  the  only  abiding  result  to  agriculture  known  to  me)  of  the 
statements  and  instructions  of  the  late  geological  surveyor,  and  his 
exaggerated  and  unmodified  panegyrics  on  the  asserted  value  of 
green-sand  as  manure — the  "  discovery"  of  which  in  Virginia  was 
claimed  as  his  own,  and  cried  up  as  the  greatest  possible  benefit  to 
agricultural  improvement.  Yet  still  (and  long  before  that  gentle- 
man had  either  written  about  green-sand,  or  seen  so  much  as  a  hand- 
specimen),  my  own  use  of  this  earth  alone,  far  exceeded  in  quan- 
tity all  other  applications  in  Virginia,  and  has  only  since  been  ex- 
ceeded in  amount  by  the  later  applications  of  my  son  and  successor 
on  Coggins  Point  farm ;  and  no  user  of  it  has  yet  been  rewarded 
for  his  labour,  from  any  possible  effects  of  the  green-sand  alone. 
All  the  appreciable  and  known  benefits  have  been  produced  by  the 
gypsum,  or  the  carbonate  of  lime,  or  both,  used  generally  in  con- 
junction. Where  neither  of  these  aids  was  present,  either  in 
the  manure  or  the  soil,  I  have  never  yet  heard  of  a  profitable  use, 
in  Virginia,  of  the  earth  having  no  manuring  ingredient  save  the 
green-sand.  Still,  I  do  not  deny  that  it  may  be  valuable — and 
should  be  much  gratified  and  greatly  profited  as  a  farmer,  to  be 
assured  that  such  value  and  profit  as  have  been  claimed  for  this 
earth  are  indeed  available.  In  my  own  extensive  trials  of  the 
green  earth  of  James  river,  and  the  still  more  extended  and  more 
beneficial  recent  applications  on  my  former  property,  by  the  present 
proprietor,  there  has  been  no  effect  found  that  could  be  ascribed  to 
green-sand,  or  to  its  potash — -or  to  anything  but  the  gypsum,  and 
that  only  on  either  marled  or  naturally  calcareous  or  neutral  soil. 
And  iu  the  much  more  extended  practice  of  my  neighbours  on  the 
Pamunkey,  who  have  largely  used  this  earth  as  marl,  but  almost 
always  more  or  less  intermixed  with  some  carbonate  of  lime,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  known  effects  which  would  go  to  contradict  the 
opinions  on  this  subject  which  I  have  here  concisely,  and  formerly 
at  greater  length,  expressed.  It  is  important  to  know  all  the  value 
of  this  earth  as  manure,  and  to  avail  ourselves  of  it  fully;  but  to 
do  that,  it  is  essential  that  the  true  source  of  the  beneficial  opera- 
tion should  be  known,  and  that  the  delusion  produced  by  the 
influence  of  scientific  but  undeserved  authority,  should  end,  as  it 
surely  will,  soon  or  late. 

The  occurrence  of  the  very  different  appearances  and  qualities 
of  this  formation,  as  found  by  digging,  or  in  the  natural  exposures 
on  the  river  banks,  has  been  generally  deemed  altogether  irregular 
and  subject  to  no  rule  of  position.     Hence  it  was  supposed  that  the 


ORDER   OP  THE   PAMUNKEY   BEDS.  483 

finding  of  marl,  by  boring  in  places  where  the  existence  was  not 
before  known,  and  the  variety  or  quality  of  whatever  could  be 
so  reached,  were  matters  of  chance.  Of  course  all  searches  for 
marl,  by  boring,  were  directed  by  no  rule  except  that  of  selecting 
surfaces  of  low  level.  And  this  one  object  was  mistaken,  and  would 
often  cause  the  concealed  marl  bed  to  be  missed  by  borings  made  in 
its  close  neighbourhood.  For  if  in  land  of  alluvial  formation,  the 
ancient  flood  most  generally  had  swept  off  all  the  previously  exist- 
ing marl,  and  the  vacancy  so  made  was  afterwards  filled  by  either 
the  succeeding  drifted  earth,  in  part,  or  entirely  by  still  later  allu- 
vial deposits. 

But  if  proper  attention  is  given  to  the  general  dip  of  the  whole 
formation,  and  the  succession  of  the  different  layers,  as  exposed 
naturally,  and  nearer  the  surface,  or  to  some  extent  in  perpen- 
dicular cuts  and  excavations,  there  may  be  found  reliable  indica- 
tions of  the  position  of  each  layer  in  other  places.  With  the  aid 
of  this  guide  it  might  be  generally  known,  in  advance  of  all  search- 
ing, and  for  miles  of  surface  upon  which  the  seeker  for  marl  had 
never  trod,  whether  and  where  marl  would  probably  be  found,  and 
of  what  quality,  and  where  there  would  be  none  worth  working. 

This  very  thick  formation,  or  bed  of  many  layers  of  different 
qualities,  as  has  been  stated,  has  a  general  dip  to  the  south-east,  or 
down  the  general  course  of  the  river.  In  the  opposite  direction, 
up  the  river,  or  as  proceeding  north-westward,  all  the  layers,  (unless 
running  out  earlier,)  in  succession,  rise  above  the  level  of  the  river ; 
and  consequently,  each  of  these  layers,  in  succession,  becomes  the 
upper  one  at  some  locality,  and  is  there  the  first  and  perhaps  the 
only  one  to  be  reached  by  digging.  And  as  the  ancient  flood  had, 
by  its  denuding  action,  washed  away  all  these  raised  edges  of  layers, 
and  so  made  a  new  surface  approaching  to  horizontal,  it  follows 
that  each  layer,  after  appearing  as  the  highest  and  most  accessible 
at  some  place,  thence  thins  out  as  proceeding  westward,  until  that 
layer  disappears,  and  the  next  one  in  order,  below,  becomes  there 
the  highest  and  most  accessible  layer.  The  figure  of  the  following 
section,  though  for  much  the  greater  part  conjectural,  will  serve  for 
better  explanation,  and  may  serve  to  indicate,  either  as  to  this  or 
other  beds  and  localities,  how  to  direct  searches  for  concealed  marl, 
with  the  best  prospect  of  success,  and  to  avoid  the  loss  of  useless 
examinations.  The  supposed  surface  line  is  designed  for  the  south- 
ern side  of  the  Pamunkey,  and  the  eocene  beds  (and  overlying 
miocene  also,  in  part)  where  exposed  nearest  to  the  river.  The  in- 
clination of  the  dip,  aud  also  the  perpendicular  distances,  are  both 
greatly  magnified  in  proportion  to  the  horizontal  distance,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  the  successive  layers  more  distinct,  and  of 
bringing  the  whole  extent  of  surface  within  convenient  size. 


WEST. 


South  Wales. 
Broadneck. 

Stevenson's. 

Gold  Hill. 

Summer  Hill. 
Dabney's  Ferry. 

Spring  Garden. 
Marlbourne. 

Newcastle. 
Ferry. 

Clifton. 

Farmington. 
Springfield. 

Retreat. 
Northbury. 

Hampstead. 


High  lands. 
)  East. 


UKDKU    Qg   THE    1'A.MI.MvKV    UKUS.  4»5 

Explanations  of  profile,  or  perpendicular  section 

a,  a,  level,  or  surface  of  ramunkey  river — air-line  between  extremes  of 

section,  2G  miles. 

b,  b,  Surface  of  land,  "second low  ground"  nearest  to  river. 

1,  1,  The  lowest,  and  8,  8,  the  highest  bed  of  the  whole  eocene  formation, 
of  marl  and  gypseous  earth  of  various  kinds. 

0,  o,  Layer  of  olive  earth  laying  on  the  raised  and  denuded  ends  of  lower 

beds,  forming  the  present  upper  surface  of  the  eocene  formation. 
e,  e,    Sandy  gravel  and  rounded  pebbles,  lying  beneath  the  lowest  eocene 
bed. 

1,  1,  Lowest  bed — rich  marl,  rising  above  river  and   exposed  at  South 

Wales. 

2,  2,  Green  or  gypseous  earth,  without  calcareous  matter. 

3,  3,  3,  3,  Green  or  gypseous  earth  beds,   with  very  small  and  variable 

amounts  of  shells,  cither  in  thin  bands,  or  very  slight  general  admix- 
ture. All  poor  as  manure,  and  mostly  not  worth  using.  More  shelly, 
and  richer  otherwise,  where  highest  and  next  to 

4,  Lower  and  richer  part  of  the  upper  calcareous  beds  of  the  eocene, 

(designated  as  L  and  z  and  y),  in  foregoing  general  description, 
stony  layer    (z)   at  bottom. 

5,  Upper  and  softer  part  of  the  good  eocene  marl — poorer  in  calcareous 

matter,  and  containing  bi-sulphuret  of  iron,  generally. 
G,  Green  or  gypseous  earth,  with  some  calcareous  matter — or  poor  marl. 

7,  Green  earth,  destitute  of  calcareous  matter,  and  worthless  as  manure. 

8,  Green  earth,  with  some  calcareous  matter,  or  poor  maid. 

9,  Miocene  marl  of  Hampstead,  lying  immediately  on  the  eocene  bed. 

10,  Ordinary  miocene  marl,  lying  higher  than  the  Hampstead  bed. 

The  various  beds  of  this  formation,  in  regard  to  extent,  succes- 
sion, and  particular  qualities  (as  before  intimated),  are  represented 
mostly  upon  conjecture.  Even  of  the  actual  exposures  above  the 
water-line  (a,  a),  I  have  seen  but  a  small  extent ;  and,  of  course, 
as  to  what  is  below  the  depth  of  actual  excavations  and  the  river, 
all_ rests  on  conjecture,  or  reasoning  from  analogy.  Neither  is  it 
designed  to  be  conveyed  that  the  different  strata  or  layers  preserve 
the  regular  proportions  of  thickness,  as  represented  in  the  figure. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  more  usual  for  each  different  layer  to  vary 
much  in  thickness,  in  a  long  stretch  of  distance,  and  in  some  cases 
to  "run  out,"  and  come  to  an  end.  Still,  after  making  due  allow- 
ance for  all  such  sources  of  uncertainty  and  error,  this  figure,  and 
the  judicious  deductions  which  every  reader  may  make  for  the  fea- 
tures of  his  own  locality,  may  be  of  great  use  in  searching  for  the 
richest  layers  of  marl,  and  still  more  in  avoiding  such  labour  when 
certain  to  be  disappointed.  According  to  this  conjectural  section, 
if  it  were  possible  and  useful  to  sink  a  shaft,  or  boring,  deep  enough 
on  the  most  eastern  point  exhibited,  every  separate  layer  or  bed 
would  be  reached  in  regular  succession.  It  might  be  as  low  as  300 
feet  or  more — but  at  some  depth  it  is  probable  that  the  rich  marl 
(M.)  now  only  known  (and  accessible)  at  the  north-western  extreme, 
could  be  reached  under  the  south-eastern,  or  more  than  twenty  miles 
41* 


4Stj  SULPIIURET   OF   IRON    IN    GYPSEOUS   EARTH. 

distant.  But  omitting  such  merely  speculative  matters,  there  are 
practicable  and  profitable  operations  to  be  based  on  the  knowledge 
of  the  succession  and  dip  of  the  strata.  Thus,  when  the  existence 
of  rich  marl  is  known  in  any  point,  and  its  depth,  it  is  almost  cer- 
tain that  it  will  thin  out  towards  the  north-west,  and  either  thicken, 
or  maintain  its  then  thickness,  as  proceeding  south-eastward.  On 
land  north-westward  of  the  disappearance  (at  top)  of  a  rich  bed, 
(as  4),  and  however  near,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  search  for  the  like. 
The  boring  for  any  practicable  depth  on  most  of  the  river  land  of 
Marlbourne  (for  example)  could  reach  only  the  poor  beds  exposed 
at  the  surface  for  some  ten  miles,  including  the  beds  marked  3  and 
2,  perhaps,  also.  But  on  land  south-eastward,  and  near  to  the 
surface  exposure  of  any  rich  marl,  it  might  be  expected  to  reach 
the  like  at  some  greater  depth.  The  lowest  eocene  marl  which  I 
reached  by  sinking  the  pit  for  examination  25  feet  below  tide  on 
Evergreen  (described  p.  -462),  and  which  must  have  been  near  to 
the  bottom  of  the  lowest  bed,  exhibited  the  same  peculiar  appear- 
ance, and  some  of  the  peculiar  fossils,  which  are  also  to  be  seen  in 
(M)  the  lowest  of  the  Pamunkey  layers,  and  at  an  exposure  thirty 
miles  distant.  In  no  other  localities  had  I  seen  either  the  same 
appearance  of  marl,  or  the  same  rare  shells,  as  some  of  both  common 
to  these  places  only.  In  the  much  deeper  pit  sunk  for  examina- 
tion on  Coggins  Point  (p.  465),  though  the  rising  of  water  at  40 
feet  prevented  deeper  digging,  the  fossils  then  reached  indicated 
the  near  approach  to  the  same  lowest  marl  found  at  less  depth  at 
Evergreen,  and  exposed  much  above  the  river  at  North  and  South 
Wales.  Hence,  it  may  be  inferred  that  this  lowest  and  very  pe- 
culiar bed  of  this  great  formation,  as  well  as  the  formation  generally, 
is  continuous  under  all  this  broad  surface  of  territory. 

Many  specimens  of  the  marl  and  gypseous  earth  of  the  Pamun- 
key beds,  were  made  partially  red  hot,  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
whether  sulphureous  fumes  were  so  disengaged,  as  was  stated  on  a 
foregoing  page  (460)  to  be  the  case  with  most  specimens  tried  of 
the  James  river  gypseous  earth.  This  result  was  obtained  in  all 
of  sundry  trials  of  the  gypseous  earth  (3)  below  the  marl  (4) — in 
the  marl  at  South  Wales  (M),  and  in  some  cases,  but  not  generally, 
of  the  richer  marl  4.  In  the  still  higher  and  poorer  marl  (5), 
which  I  lately  have  excavated  extensively  in  the  Clifton  bank,  the 
sulphureous  fumes  were  obtained  in  every  trial.  A  specimen  of 
marl  from  Pipingtree,  and  many  specimens  of  the  gypseous  earth 
(upper  part  of  3)  from  Newcastle  ferry,  Newcastle  farm,  and  from 
Marlbourne,  all  gave  out  these  fumes.  Sundry  other  specimens  of 
calcareous  green-sand  marl  which  were  thus  treated,  yielded  no 
fumes.  The  latter  results  were  found  in  specimens  from  the  several 
diggings  at  Newcastle  (both  sides  of  the  river),  and  at  Mr.  (i.  W. 
Bassctt's  bank,  Farmington.     It  may  not  be  useless  to  repeat  hero, 


GREEN-SAiND  SUPPOSED    IN    MIOCENE    MAULS.  4^7 

and  thus  to  place  in  connexion  with  these  results,  that  all  the  dark 
green  or  blackish  earth  (Z>)  of  Coggins  Point  gave  out  these  suf- 
focating fumes,  and  also  the  gray  clay  (E)  below,  and  most  power- 
fully— and  that  no  such  product  was  found  from  any  of  the  very 
shelly  bands.  Thus  it  would  seem  that  most  generally  the  non- 
calcareous  earths  (or  nearly  non-calcareous)  gave  out  fumes,  and 
the  calcareous  not.  But  exceptions  were  found  to  both.  And  of 
the  New  Jersey  green-sands,  containing  no  carbonate  of  lime,  six 
specimens  were  tried  at  red  heat,  of  the  beds  most  esteemed  for 
manure,  and  not  the  slightest  disengagement  of  such  fumes  was 
produced.* 

This  extrication  of  sulphureous  fumes  by  the  first  beginning  of  red 
heat,  is  a  sure  indication  of  the  presence  of  sulphuret  (or  bi-sul- 
phurot)  of  iron.  And  wherever  this  exists  in  contact  with  marl,  and 
with  the  access  of  air  and  water,  first  the  sulphate  of  iron  will  be 
formed,  and  next  this  'salt  will  decompose  as  much  carbonate  of  lime 
as  its  quantity  will  act  upon,  and  so  form  gypsum.  Therefore, 
wherever  the  sulphuret  of  iron  is  present  in  marl,  or  is  put  in  con- 
tact with  it,  in  soil,  it  is  certain  that,  in  the  same  proportion,  carbo- 
nate of  lime  will  be  decomposed,  and  sulphate  of  lime  formed.  Of 
course  no  addition  of  other  gypsum  is  needed,  or  could  act  if 
applied,  on  land  recently  supplied,  in  marl,  with  enough  sulphuret 
of  iron,  even  if  the  partial  previous  decomposition  of  the  latter 
had  not  already  formed  gypsum  in  the  bed  of  marl,  as  is  usually 
the  case. 

Of  Green-sand  as  an  ingredient  of  Miocene  Marls. 

In  a  previous  page  (439),  the  presence  of  green-sand  in  miocene 
marls,  as  an  important  and  general  ingredient,  was  denied  ;  and  the 
subject  then  passed  by,  with  the  promise  of  its  being  subsequently 
resumed.  Having  treated  of  the  gypseous  earth  and  of  eocene 
green-sand  marls,  of  both  of  which  green-sand  forms  large  and  im- 
portant proportions,  it  is  now  most  appropriate  to  inquire  into  the 
alleged  extent  and  operation  of  this  substance  in  miocene  marls. 

In  1834,  Professor  William  B.  Kogers  (then  and  long  before  a 
resident  of  lower  Virginia)  announced  that  he  had  discovered  green- 
sand  to  be  a  considerable  ingredient  of  nearly  all  the  many  ordinary 
miocene  marls  which  he  had  examined  either  in  place  or  by  speci- 
mens ;  and  from  which  observations  he  inferred  the  same  admix- 

*  The  New  Jersey  "marls"  thus  tried  -were  selected  by  the -writer  from 
the  pits  of  Josiah  Heritage  and  Thomas  Bee  of  Gloucester,  and  Henry 
Allen,  Allen  Wallace,  J.  Riley,  and  J.  Cauley,  Salem  county.  The  same 
results  were  found  as  to  the  poorer  (or  less  valued)  overlying  strata  of 
Heritage,  R.  Dickenson,  J.  Cauley,  and  also  of  the  barren  green  clay  or  sub- 
soil. See  all  described  in  my  report  on  the  New  Jersey  green-sand  earths, 
Farmers'  Register,  vol.  x.  p.  429 


488  ntOFESSUH  BOOMS*    DISCO Vi.lt v. 

turc  to  be  general  as  to  other  miocene  marls;  and  that  the  propor- 
tions of  green-sand  so  contained  were  large  enough  to  form  useful 
additions  to,  and  in  some  cases  the  most  valuable  portion  of  the 
manuring  ingredients  of  such  marls  (Farmers'  Register,  vol.  H.,  p. 
1-9).  At  a  later  time,  he  added  to  like  general  opinions  and  state- 
ments the  following  :  "  In  some  of  these  deposits  [marl  beds  in  the 
vicinity  of  Williamsburg],  so  large  a  proportion  as  30  and  in 
some  specimens  40  per  cent,  [of  pure  green-sand]  has  been  found ; 
and  in  cases  like  this,  if  we  are  to  trust  to  the  experience  of  Xew 
Jersey,  a  very  marked  addition  to  the  fertilizing  power  of  marl 
must  be  ascribed  to  the  presence  of  this  ingredient.''  (Farmers' 
Register,  vol.  ii.,  p.  747.)  In  a  subsequent  communication  to  the 
Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia  in  1835,  and  again  in  the  first 
report  of  the  geological  survey  of  Virginia,  the  material  parts  of  the 
above  statements  are  re-asserted,  in  substance,  and  nearly  in  the 
same  words.  These  statements  and  opinions  were  received,  when 
announced,  as  undoubted,  and  they  have  not  since  been  questioned 
in  any  publication  j  nor  have  they  since  been  either  confirmed  by 
any  additional  proof  or  testimony,  nor  have  they,  in  direct  terms, 
been  modified  or  retracted  by  their  author.  Yet  the  correctness  or 
incorrectness  of  the  assertion  of  such  abundance  and  general  diffu- 
sion of  green-sand  in  the  miocene  marls  of  Virginia,  is  a  matter  of 
great  interest ;  and,  in  its  bearing  on  the  application  of  marl  and 
the  rationale  of  its  operation,  of  great  importance  to  agricultural 
improvement.  It  is  certain  that  to  this  day  [1842],  many  proprie- 
tors consider  that  their  marls  are  peculiarly  valuable  because  of  the 
supposed  large  proportions  of  green-sand  therein ;  such  opinions 
being  founded  either  on  the  publications,  or,  with  still  more  confi- 
dence, upon  the  personal  examinations  and  verbally  expressed 
opinions  of  the  former  state  geologist. 

3Iv  own  personal  examinations  of  marls  in  place,  and  analyses  of 
specimens  of  other  beds,  have  been  very  extensive ;  and  my  atten- 
tion has  been  given  especially  in  regard  to  this  point  to  sundry 
specimens,  including  several  of  the  particular  bodies  of  marl  which 
it  is  understood  that  Professor  Rogers  had  pronounced  to  be  very 
rich  in  green-sand — containing,  say,  20  to  30  per  cent,  of  the  black 
granules  so  called.  I  have  found  some  green-sand  (but  generally 
in  very  small  proportion)  in  nearly  all  the  specimens  examined 
particularly  for  this  substance ;  and  believe  that  Professor  Rogers 
was  correct  so  far  as  inferring  that  it  is  a  very  frequent  ingredient. 
And  for  the  first  observation  of  this  curious  and  interesting  fact  he 
is  justly  entitled  to  the  entire  credit.  To  such  extent  as  green-sand 
is  present,  and  according  to  the  manner  of  the  operation  of  that 
earth  (whatever  that  may  be),  the  green-sand  in  the  miocene  marls 
must  be  effective  and  useful.  But  whether  such  effect  be  of  any 
distinguishable  and  appreciable  value,  or  not,  depends  on  the  quau- 


EXAMINATION   OF   ITS   WORTH.  4S9 

tity  and  proportion  of  green-sand  in  the  marl ;  and,  so  far  as  all  my 
experience  and  observation  enable  me  to  judge,  I  cannot  but  believe 
that  the  above  stated  estimates  of  quantities  and  proportions  of 
green-sand  are  greatly  exaggerated,  and  extremely  incorrect  and 
delusive.  I  do  not  mean  to  assert,  and  cannot  be  expected  to  prove, 
the  negative  of  the  assertion  of  such  abundance  of  green-sand.  But, 
from  all  my  means  for  arriving  at  conclusions,  it  is  my  confident 
belief  that  but  few  of  the  bodies  of  miocene  marls  in  Virginia  con- 
tain as  much  as  2  per  cent,  of  green-sand — if  even  as  much  as  1  per 
cent. ;  and  that  an  average  proportion,  throughout  any  considerable 
digging  for  manure,  of  as  much  as  5  per  cent,  of  green-sand  is 
extremely  rare.  With  but  a  single  peculiar  exception,  which 
will  be  described  presently,  the  largest  proportion  (estimated  by  the 
eye)  that  I  ever  found  was  supposed  to  be  5  per  cent. ;  and  that 
was  in  a  very  peculiar  marl,  found  at  Coggins  Point  farm  and  else- 
where in  that  neighbourhood,  or  rather  a  loose  calcareous  sand, 
which  forms  the  overlying  layer  of  a  compact  blue  marl.  This  sand 
contains  only  about  20  per  cent,  of  finely  divided  shelly  matter,  and 
the  whole  mass  would  appear,  to  slight  observation,  similar  to,  and 
as  poor  and  as  loose,  as  the  deep  sands  of  the  roads  through  a  sandy 
country.  But  few  persons  would  have  used  this  sand  for  manure, 
or  would  have  dignified  it  by  the  name  of  marl.  However,  the 
ease  with  which  it  could  be  worked,  and  the  necessity  for  removing 
it  to  uncover  the  better  marl  below,  induced  me  to  carry  out  and 
apply  it  as  a  second  dressing  to  an  adjacent  part  of  a  field  which 
had  been  just  before  marled  from  the  richer  blue  layer.  The  effects 
were  so  marked,  and  so  superior  to  the  single  marling,  that  I  was 
ready  to  believe  that  the  green-sand  caused  the  difference.  The 
loose  calcareous  sand  mentioned  at  page  443,  which  one  of  my 
neighbours  supposed  (from  its  good  effects)  to  be  rich  in  calcareous 
earth,  is  precisely  like  mine  in  general  appearance,  and  in  position 
in  the  bed ;  and  appears  to  have  a  like  unusually  large  proportion 
of  green-sand,  which  no  doubt  served  to  produce  some  small  part 
of  the  benefit  which  was  ascribed  wholly  to  the  carbonate  of  lime. 
This  peculiar  deposit  furnishes  the  only  cases  known  to  me  of  any 
ordinary  miocene  marl  (if  this  loose  sand  can  be  so  termed)  being 
rich  enough  in  green-sand  for  the  benefit  from  the  latter  to  be 
known.  And  even  this  benefit  would  not  have  been  distinguished 
or  suspected,  but  that  the  poverty  of  the  earth  in  calcareous  matter 
required  it  to  be  applied  very  heavily.  The  much  thicker  body  of 
compact  marl,  lying  under  this  poor  calcareous  sand,  contains  (by 
supposition)  not  so  much  as  2  per  cent,  of  green-sand. 

But  it  is  true,  that  when  attention  was  not  particularly  directed 
to  green-sand,  proportions  not  exceeding  5  or  6  per  cent,  might 
have  escaped  the  notice  of  one  who  had  handled  and  examined 
the  specimens  of  marl,  or  who  even  analyzed  them,  merely  with  a 


4£0  TESTIMONY   IN   OPPOSITION. 

view  to  their  proportions  of  calcareous  matter.  But  proportions 
so  large  as  40,  80,  or  even  20  per  cent,  of  green-sand  could  not 
thus  escape  even  careless  and  superficial  observation ;  for  even  the 
smallest  of  these  proportions  would  give  a  -very  manifest  greenish 
or  gray  tint  to  any  otherwise  light-coloured  marl.  Knowing  the 
great  uncertainty  of  the  gucssings  at  proportions  of  green-sand 
naturally  intermixed  with  marl  or  other  earth,  I  did  not  rely  on 
them  except  as  to  the  absence  of  any  very  large  proportion.  For 
more  accurate  testing,  the  clayey  parts  were  washed  off  in  water ; 
in  others  the  calcareous  parts  were  also  removed  by  weak  acid. 
And  for  still  better  means  of  judging  by  comparison,  I  mixed  toge- 
ther, in  different  and  known  proportions,  measured  quantities  of 
light-coloured  marl  (such  as  are  all  those  about  Williamsburg),  and 
pure  green-sand  prepared  by  washing  some  obtained  from  the 
richest  beds  in  New  Jersey.  And  of  such  artificial  compounds, 
examined  by  the  eye  both  when  dry  and  in  powder,  and  wet,  and  also 
after  being  again  dried  in  mass,  the  admixture  of  green-sand,  even 
when  as  small  as  10  per  cent.,  was  obviously  more  abundant  than 
in  the  miocene  marls  reputed  to  be  among  the  richest  in  green-sand. 
Under  these  circumstances,  without  denying  the  possible  existence 
of  such  cases,  it  is  proper  to  wait  for  and  to  require  further  proofs 
of  assertions  of  such  large  proportions  as  20  to  40  per  cent. 

But  there  is  much  better  support  for  my  position,  of  the  general 
scarcity  of  green-sand  in  miocene  marls,  than  any  proofs,  positive 
or  negative,  that  I  can  adduce,  presented  by  Prof.  Bogers  himself, 
in  his  "  Beport  of  the  Progress  of  the  Geological  Survey''  for  1837. 
He  therein  gives  a  tabular  statement  of  148  specimens  selected  by 
his  assistants,  and  their  analyses  made  under  his  own  direction.  It 
is  to  be  presumed  that  so  many  specimens,  and  thus  obtained,  must 
present  a  fair  and  correct  average  of  general  quality  of  the  marls 
of  the  region  in  which  they  were  found ;  or  at  least  that  their  con- 
tents would  not  be  too  little  favourable  to  the  geologist's  preconceiv- 
ed opinions,  or  assertions.  The  specimens  were  from  eighteen  coun- 
ties, viz.  :  Lancaster,  Westmoreland,  Bichmond,  Northumberland, 
King  George,  Mathews,  Middlesex,  Gloucester,  King  and  Queen, 
King  William,  Essex,  Isle  of  Wight,  Nansemond,  Elizabeth  City, 
Surry,  Prince  George,  James  City,  and  Warwick.  Of  these  148 
specimens,  of  one  only  (S.  Downing's,  Lancaster)  is  the  quantity 
or  proportion  of  green-sand  stated  with  any  approach  to  precision. 
This  is  said  (no  doubt  by  guess)  to  contain  "  10  or  12  per  cent,  of 
green-sand,"  and  only  17  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime.  Of  five 
others,  the  green-sand  would  seem  to  be  in  notable  quantities,  but 
as  no  numbers  or  proportions  are  named,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
the  proportions  were  deemed  less  than  the  one  just  stated.  These 
five  are  described  as  follows,  in  regard  to  this  ingredient  :  Calla- 
han's, Lancaster,  "  large  grains  of  green-sand  in  considerable  quan- 


TESTIMONY   IN   OPPOSITION.  491 

tity;"  Gloucester  Town,  " richly  specked  with  green-sand;"  Saun- 
ders', Isle  of  Wight  (one  only  of  three  strata),  "  considerable 
green-sand."  Stith's,  Surry,  "quite  richly  specked  with  green- 
sand."  A.  C.  Jones's,  Surry,  and  at  Kingsmill,  James  City,  "  in- 
termixed with  green-sand."  Now  what  proportions  these  descrip- 
tions designate,  it  is  not  for  me  to  determine;  but  3  or  4  percent., 
at  most,  would  abundantly  serve  to  meet  all  their  requisitions. 
There  are  also  7  other  of  the  specimens  named  marked  in  less  de- 
grees by  the  presence  of  this  ingredient,  and  which  are  described  in 
this  respect  in  such  phrases  as  these :  containing  "  a  little  green- 
sand" — "  specked  with  green-sand" — "  quite  perceptibly  specked 
with  green-sand" — "  tinged  with  green-sand" — and  "  slightly  inter- 
mixed with  green-sand."  There  remain  of  the  list  135  other  speci- 
mens, of  which  48  are  stated  to  contain  of  "  green-sand  a  trace" 
(by  which  term  chemists  understand  a  proportion  so  small  that  its 
presence  is  barely  certain),  and  of  the  other  87  specimens  no  green- 
sand  is  mentioned,  and  therefore  it  may  be  inferred  that  not  even 
"  a  trace"  could  be  found. 

If  this  list  of  marls  and  statements  of  their  fertilizing  contents 
had  been  presented  by  the  author  distinctly  as  a  designed  refutation 
of  his  previously  and  repeatedly  published  assertions  of  the  frequent 
abundance  and  general  presence  in  useful  quantity  of  green-sand  in 
miocene  marls,  nothing  could  have  been  more  to  the  purpose,  or 
more  conclusive. 

Nevertheless,  few  and  rare  as  may  be  the  cases  in  which  the  value 
and  beneficial  effects  of  miocene  marls  are  increased  in  any  consi- 
derable degree  by  the  presence  of  green-sand,  or  of  any  other  in- 
gredient than  carbonate  of  lime,  it  is  important  that  such  auxiliary 
fertilizing  matters  should  be  searched  for,  and  their  absence  or  pre- 
sence known.  The  great  value  and  uniform  fertilizing  effects  of 
carbonate  of  lime  will  be  the  most  highly  appreciated  by  those 
farmers  who  understand  and  estimate  them  separately  and  alone ; 
without  confounding  the  operation  of  that  manuring  earth  with 
those  of  any  other  intermixed  and  unknown  substances,  no  matter 
what  increase  of  benefit  such  intermixture  may  produce  in  particu- 
lar cases. 


Some  years  after  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  Re- 
port (as  originally  made  to  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  published,  with  other  reports,  by  order  of  the  legisla- 
ture), I  learned  that  a  particular  bed  of  marl,  worked  at  Hampstead 
in  New  Kent,  and  more  lately  found  and  now  worked  both  at  Oak 
Spring  and  Liberty  Hall,  in  King  William  county,  furnished  an 
exception  to  the  general  rule  above  asserted,  of  the  absence  of  any 
large  proportion  of  green-sand  in  miocene  marl.     This  particular 


402  PECULIAR   MIOCENE   MARL. 

bed  Las  been  found  (by  boring)  on  both  sides  of  the  Pamunkey 
river,  near  to  and  in  the  same  general  range  with  the  eocene  bed, 
and  within  a  mile  of  two  different  excavations  of  eocene  marl,  or 
gypseous  earth,  in  different  directions.  Further,  this  Hampstead 
marl  contains  apparently  as  much  green-sand  as  the  neighbouring 
eocene  bed ;  and  there  is  no  obvious  difference  in  the  texture,  co- 
lour, or  general  appearance  of  the  two  kinds.  When  I  first  visited 
this  locality  (May,  1842),  the  digging  had  been  suspended,  and  the 
pits  were  full  of  water ;  so  that  no  marl  or  shells  could  be  seen  in 
the  bed.  My  examinations  therefore  were  limited  to  heaps  of  the 
marl  which  remained  unspread  upon  the  field.  I  was  surprised  to 
find  all  of  the  few  shells  which  met  my  eye  in  this  imperfect  view, 
of  species  such  as  were  unknown  to  me,  and  which  I  had  not  seen 
in  any  other  marl.  But  this  did  not  induce  me  to  suspect  that 
the  formation  was  not  eocene,  as  I  was  not  then  acquainted  with 
many  eocene  shells.  Subsequently,  however,  by  more  full  exami- 
nation, and  aided  by  the  scientific  knowledge  of  my  friend  M. 
Tuomey,  Esq.,  whom  I  induced  to  visit  with  me  this  singular  de- 
posit, I  learned  that  the  shells,  so  far  as  recognised,  were  miocene ; 
though  mostly  not  known  in  any  other  of  the  miocene  beds  in  Vir- 
ginia— of  which,  sundry  exposures,  with  numerous  different  shells, 
are  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Hampstead  bed.  There  are  three 
shells  only,  of  some  22  species,  which  I  found  here,  known  to  me 
also  in  the  other  miocene  marls  of  Virginia.* 

This  bed  is  underlaid  by  the  ordinary  eocene  of  the  neighbour- 
hood. Suspecting  this  to  be  the  fact  in  advance  of  any  proof,  I 
procured  an  excavation  to  be  sunk  much  lower  than  any  had  been 
done  before ;  and,  without  any  obvious  change  of  general  appearaucc 
and  texture,  the  eocene  marl  was  reached — as  was  made  evident 
by  the  finding  of  perfect  shells  of  the  ostrea  scllafortnis. 

From  all  the  circumstances  it  would  seem  that  the  earthy  mate- 
rials of  this  miocene  formation  had  been  mainly  derived  from  the 
earlier  formed  and  close  adjacent  eocene  bed  below,  and  which 
spreads  out  to  the  westward ;  and  that  while  some  flood  had  torn 
up,  swept  along,  and  suspended  for  a  time,  and  then  deposited,  this 
fine  green  earth  for  the  matrix,  that  the  peculiar  conditions  permit- 
ted the  existence,  with  a  few  exceptions  only,  of  shell-fish  not  belong- 
ing to  the  ordinary  miocene.  The  supposed  position  of  this  peculiar 
miocene  is  represented  (at  9)  in  the  annexed  profile  of  all  the 
strata. 

This  peculiar  deposit,  and  this  alone  so  far  as  known  to  me,  would 
accord  with  the  cases  asserted  by  Professor  Rogers,  of  the  frequent 
and  general  occurrence  of  green-sand  in  large  proportions,  in  ordi- 
nary miocene  marls.     But  even  this  case  afforded  no  support  to  his 

*  There  three  are  cardita  qranulata,  an  aslartc,  and  one  other. 


HAMPSTEAD   BEDS.  493 

assertion,  when  it  was  published.  This  bed  is  of  peculiar  character, 
iu  this  respect.  No  other  similar  marl  is  yet  known.  It  was  every- 
where concealed  by  its  depth,  and  was  found  only  by  boring  The 
discovery  of  the  marl  itself  did  not  occur  until  long  after  Professor 
Rogers  had  published  these  assertions;  and  it  was  much  later  still, 
before  it  was  even  suspected  that  it  belonged  to  the  miocene  forma- 
tion. Therefore,  however  conveniently  the  peculiar  character  of 
this  marl  might  have  been  used,  if  known  earlier,  as  at  least  one 
evidence  for  Professor  Rogers's  assertions — as  the  facts  arc,  it  affords 
to  them,  as  made,  not  the  slightest  support. 


THE  END. 


STEREOTYPED  BY  E.  B.  HEARS,  rHILADELrniA. 


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121  Maui  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

prefixed  some  useful  hints  to  overseers  as  to  plantation  management. 
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[Southern  Literary  Messenger. 

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J.  W.  RANDOLPH,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  has  published  a 
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but  is  so  filled,  so  arranged,  that  the  proprietors  of  such  estates  would 
themselves  be  equally  benefited  by  personally  carrying  out  its  nume- 
rous plans,  hints  and  suggestions ;  for  after  carefully  looking  through 
and  studying  its  details,  we  most  conscientiously  say,  that  they  are 
founded  in  wisdom,  and,  if  practised  upon,  would  be  promotive  alike 
of  economy  and  humanity — economy  in  the  management  of  the  farm 
or  plantation — and  humanity  in  providing  for  the  comfort  and  health 
of  the  slaves,  as  well  as  stock. 

It  contains  a  chapter  explanatory  of  the  manager's  duty — shows 
how  his  journal  or  daily  record  should  be  kept.  Upon  this  head,  as 
■well  as  upon  the  employment  and  treatment  of  the  negroes  and  ma- 
nagement of  the  plantation,  the  remarks  are  alike  copious  and  judi- 
cious ;  so  also  are  those  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  stock  of  all 
kinds  are  to  be  cared  for.  Its  observations  upon  the  saving  and  ap- 
plication of  manure,  the  cultivation  of  the  plantation  or  farm,  as  well 
as  upon  the  proper  rotation  of  crops,  are  sensible,  and  show  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  several  subjects  on  the  part  of  the  author.  The 
tables,  illustrative  of  the  three,  four  and  five  field  systems  of  rotation, 
are  full  of  instruction,  and  may  be  studied  with  decided  advantage. 

It  contains  a  useful  "  table,  showing  the  number  of  spaces  con- 
tained in  an  acre  of  land  at  various  given  distances,  which  will  be 
found  useful  in  fixing  the  proper  distances  to  place  marl,  lime  or  other 
manures,  so  as  to  give  any  desired  quantity  to  the  acre" — a  rule  for 
measuring  the  contents  of  a  corn  crib — two  rules  for  ploughmen — a 
table  showing  the  actual  number  of  pounds  in  a  bushel  of  different 
kinds  of  grain,  potatoes,  bran,  clover  seed,  timothy  and  Kentucky 
blue  grass  seed,  flax  seed,  hemp  seed,  castor  beans,  dried  peaches  and 
apples,  onions  and  salt — a  table  of  planting  distances — a  table  show- 
ing how  the  contents  of  any  bulk  of  grain  may  be  ascertained — one 
showing  the  weight  of  various  materials — an  instructive  chapter  upon 


J.  W.  Randolph,  Bookseller, 


mechanical  power — tables  of  weights  and  measures — of  the  United 
States  currency — English  currency — rule  for  reducing  sterling  money 
into  United  States  currency — data  in  mechanics  and  rural  economy. 
Besides  which,  there  are  ruled  blanks  for  recording  all  the  details  of 
farm  and  plantation  duties,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  year, 
so  arranged  as  to  make  the  labor  so  plain  and  easy,  that  if  anything 
can  induce  farmers  and  planters  to  record  the  operations  of  their 
estates,  this  work  will  lure  them  to  it.  That  it  may  find  a  ready  sale 
we  most  fervently  wish,  as  it  is  pregnant  with  much  good. 

[American  Fanner. 


WYTHFS  REPORTS 

J.  W.  RANDOLPH  has  just  published  in  one  8vo.   volume. 
Price  $4  in  sheep,  and  $4  50  in  calf  binding. 

Decisions  of  cases  in  Virginia,  by  the  High  Court  of  Chancery, 
with  remarks  upon  decrees  by  the  Court  of  Appeals,  reversing  some 
of  thoso  decisions,  by  George  Wythe,  Chancellor  of  said  court;  se- 
cond and  only  complete  edition,  with  a  memoir  of  the  author,  analy- 
sis of  the  cases,  and  an  Index,  by  B.  B.  Minor,  L.  B.,  of  the  Rich- 
mond Bar,  and  with  an  Appendix,  containing  references  to  cases  in 
Pari  Materia,  and  an  essay  on  lapse,  joint  tenants,  and  tenants  in 
common,  &c,  by  William  Green,  Esq. 

In  Orr's  heirs  v.  Irwin's  heirs  and  devisees,  2  Carolina  Law  Re- 
pository -465,  Taylor,  C.  J.,  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  court, 
says  :  "  To  these  [English]  cases  may  be  added  a  decision  made  by 
the  late  Chancellor  Wythe,  in  Virginia,  which  may  be  cited  as  equal 
in  point  of  authority,  if  not  superior,  to  any  of  the  British  decisions, 
from  the  luminous  and  conclusive  reasoning  on  which  that  upright  and 
truly  estimable  Judgo  founds  it — clarum  et  venerabile  notnen."  He 
then  makes  an  extract  of  several  pages  consecutively,  from  the  report 
of  Farley  v.  Skipper,  in  Wythe,  (1st  edition,)  135,  (2d  edition,)  254  ; 
and  concludes  his  opinion  in  these  words :  "  We  have  transcribed  thus 
largely  from  the  work  of  the  Chancellor,  because  it  is  not  in  every 
library,  and  the  discussion  of  the  question,  which  is  new  in  this  court, 
being  the  most  able  and  copious  we  have  anywhere  met  with,  cannot 
fail  to  be  instructive  to  the  student,  and  acceptable  to  the  practitioner, 
who  will  both  be  disposed  to  allow  that  the  excellence  of  the  matter 
atones  for  the  length  of  the  extract." — Laus  laudari  a  laudato  viro. 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va, 


All  of  the  old  editions  of  this  work  are  imperfect,  and  yet  copies 
have  been  sold  at  auction  as  high  as  $10,  such  has  been  the  demand  for  it. 


For  sale  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH,  Richmond,  CAMPBELL'S 
HISTORY  OF  THE  COLONY  and  ANCIENT  DOMI- 
NION OF  VIRGINIA.     Price  $1  50. 

CHARLES  CAMPBELL,  Esq.,  of  Petersburg,  a  gentleman  bet- 
ter informed  upon  the  History  of  Eastern  Virginia  than  any  one  wo 
have  met  in  the  course  of  our  investigation,  and  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  much  valuable  information." — Henri/  Howe,  Editor  of  His- 
torical Collections  of  Virginia. 

AYc  do  not  doubt  that  this  is  the  most  authentic  History  of  Vir- 
ginia, as  a  Colony,  which  has  yet  appeared. — Petersburg  Intelligencer. 

"We  take  great  pleasure  in  giving  our  cordial  recommendation  to  the 
work. —  Watchman  and  Observer. 

No  work  in  Virginia,  we  will  venture  to  say,  has  appeared  for  many 
years,  which  has  been  enriched  and  illustrated  with  so  many  original 
facts  and  explanations. — Literary  World. 

We  are  of  those  who  love  a  straight  forward  and  unvarnished  chroni- 
cle ;  we,  therefore,  like  Mr.  Campbell's  Book. — Princeton  Review. 

No  one  can  even  glance  at  the  work  without  imbibing  the  convic- 
tion, that  its  author  has  been  a  long  and  loving  student  of  Virginia 
History,  and  has  his  mind  embodied  with  the  result  of  his  extensive 
experience  and  ripe  discrimination,  in  a  style  at  once  terse,  vigorous 
and  pleasing.— ^Literary    World. 

You  have  presented  the  outline  of  early  Virginia  History  in  an 
unusually  attractive  form,  and  one  well  fitted  to  lead  the  reader  to 
pursue  more  fully  its  minuter  details. 

[Professor  Gammell,  of  Brown  University. 

The  Book  will  be  a  very  useful  compend  for  the  inhabitants  of 
Virginia,  as  well  as  for  general  readers  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

\Jared  Sparks. 

Mr.  Campbell's  History  op  Virginia  is  presented  to  the  public 
in  a  very  unpretending  form,  and  is  written  in  a  clear,  agreeable  and 
manly  style,  without  affectation,  with  new  and  elaborate  conceits  of  ex- 


J.  W.  Randolph,  Bookseller, 


pression,  and  defaced  by  no  ambitious  and  deliberate  flights  of  rheto- 
ric. The  subject  is  a  good  one,  and  it  is  treated  as  if  the  author  felt 
assured  of  its  intrinsic  attractions.  He  has  evidently  scrutinized  the 
appropriate  evidences  in  their  sources,  and  the  reader  may  repose  with 
confidence  in  his  statements. — North  American  Review. 


An  Essay  on  Slavery,  by  Thomas  R.  Dew,  late  President  of 
William  and  Mary  College,  Williamsburg,  Va.  Second  edition, 
Richmond,  Va.     J.  W.  Randolph,  121  Main  Street. 

This  Essay  has  peculiar  claims  to  the  attention  of  the  Virginian, 
and  is  not  wanting  in  interest  to  the  statesman  everywhere.  We  do 
not  think  we  err  in  saying,  that  it  is  the  clearest  and  ablest  defence  of 
the  institution  to  be  found  in  the  English  language.  The  writer 
views  that  institution  in  its  historical  and  its  scriptural  aspects,  and 
discusses  at  large  the  plans  for  the  abolition  of  negro  slavery.  While 
we  cannot  accord  with  all  the  views  he  has  expressed  in  regard  to  the 
colonization  movement,  we  yet  think  the  facts  he  arrays,  and  the  prin- 
ciples he  urges,  are  entitled  to  the  gravest  consideration,  as  the  re- 
sults of  unwearied  labor,  and  of  a  mind  well  balanced  and  well  train- 
ed. We  believe  that  all  parties  are  agreed  as  to  the  evil  of  emancipa- 
tion, without  removal.  The  painting  of  the  scenes,  which  would  en- 
sure such  an  event,  is  drawn  with  a  master  hand. — Republican. 

A  Guide  to  Commissioners  in  Chancery,  with  practical  forms 
for  the  discharge  of  their  duties ;  adapted  to  the  new  Code  of  Vir- 
ginia, by  James  M.  Matthews,  Attorney  at  Law,  Richmond.  J. 
W.  Randolph,  121  Main  Street. 

Mr.  Matthews  has  in  this  publication  furnished  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  small  stock  of  Virginia  Law  Books.  The  Work  is  not  only  of 
essential  service  to  the  Commissioner;  it  is  also  a  valuable  node  mo  urn 
to  the  Chancery  Lawyer.  The  following  opinion  is  expressed  of  it  by 
a  legal  friend  : 

"  I  have  had  occasion  to  use  Mr.  Matthews'  Guide  to  Commission- 
ers as  a  book  of  reference  in  the  course  of  my  practice  at  the  Bar.  I 
have  uniformly  found  it  to  be  correct,  and  it  materially  aided  me 
while  attending  the  settlement  of  accounts  before  the  Commissioner." 

The  following  table  of  contents  may  be  acceptable  to  our  legal  read- 
ers; in  the  country  : 

Chapter  I.  Of  the  origin  of  Commissioners  in  Chancery,  their  ap- 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  0 


pointraent,  the  reference  of  accounts  to  them,  and  the  proceedings 
thereupon. — Chap.  II.  Of  fiduciaries  generally,  and  the  settlement  of 
their  accounts  by  Commissioners  in  Chancery. — Chap.  III.  Of  Guar- 
dians and  Wards. — Chap.  IV.  Proceedings  under  decrees  and  orders  in 
the  Commissioner's  Oflice,  and  herein  : — Of  References  and  Reports  ; 
The  examination  of  parties  upon  interrogatories ;  Admissions  of  par- 
ties; Of  the  onus  probandi ;  The  examination  of  witnesses  upon  in- 
terrogatories; Enquiries  as  to  heirs  at  law,  next  of  kin,  &c.;  Pro- 
duction of  documents ;  Of  scandal  and  impertinence  ;  Of  the  princi- 
ples on  which  accounts  of  executor  or  administrator  should  be  stated ; 
When  interest  not  to  be  involved  in  administration  account;  When 
account  of  executor  or  administrator  should  be  closed ;  What  pay- 
ments not  to  enter  into  the  general  account ;  When  annual  rests  are 
to  be  made;  Formula  in  stating  account  of  executor  or  administrator; 
Principles  on  which  Guardians'  account  should  be  stated ;  How  to 
state  the  account  of  one  who  is  in  name  an  executor,  but  is  in  fact  a 
guardian  or  trustee ;  How  to  ascertain  value  of  life  estate  or  annuity ; 
Table  of  longevity;  Adjournment  by  Commissioner ;  Report  and  Ex- 
ceptions; Review  of  Report. — Chap.  V.  Of  surcharge  and  falsifica- 
tion.—Chap.  VI.  of  Notices.— Chap.  VII.  Of  Evidence.— Chap.  VIII. 
Of  means  for  compelling  debtor  to  discover  and  surrender  his  estate. 
Chap.  IX.  Of  fees  of  Commissioner  in  Chancery. — Chap.  X.  Of  de- 
scents and  distributions. — Chap.  XL  Of  the  payment  of  debts  accord- 
ing to  their  priority. — Chap.  XII.  For  preventing  commission  of  crimes. 
By  the  Code  of  Virginia,  Chapter  201,  Section  1,  Commissioners 
in  Chancery  are  constituted  conservators  of  the  peace,  and  the  last 
chapter  is  a  summary  of  the  proceedings  on  peace  warrant,  &c.  Every 
Commissioner  should  have  a  copy  of  this  Work. — Republican. 


VIRGINIA  REPORT  on  the  Resolutions  of  '98-99,  concern- 
ing the  ALIEN  and  SEDITION  LAWS. 

We  have  received  from  our  friend,  J.  W.  RANDOLPH,  a  neat 
and  well  printed  copy  of  the  "  Virginia  Report  on  the  Resolutions  of 
'98-99,  concerning  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws."  We  were  struck 
with  the  truth  of  the  remark  of  the  editor  of  the  first  mentioned  vo- 
lume, that  this  "  report  had  been  more  praised  than  read."  Every 
statesman  should  be  familiar  with  its  contents.  It  is  certainly  a  va- 
luable commentary  on  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  both  parties  may 
find  here  some  of  the  strongest  arguments  in  support  of  their  several 
theories.     We  shall  notice  this  WORK  more  at  large  hereafter. 

[Richmond  Republican. 


10  J.W.  Randolph,  Bookseller . 


A  comprehensive  DESCRIPTION  OF  VIRGINIA  and  the 
DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  containing  a  copious  collection  of 
geographical,  statistical,  political,  commercial,  religious,  moral  and 
miscellaneous  information,  chiefly  from  original  sources,  by  Joseph 
Martin ;  to  which  is  added  A  HISTORY  OF  VIRGINIA,  from  its 
first  settlement  to  the  year  1754,  with  an  abstract  of  the  principal 
events  from  that  period  to  the  INDEPENDENCE  OF  VIRGINIA, 
by  TV  H.  Brockenbrough,  formerly  Librarian  at  the  University  of 
Virginia,- and  afterwards  Judge  of  the  United  States  Court  in  Florida. 

The  above  Book  contains  636  printed  pages,  8vo.,  bound  in  strong 
sheep.     Price  £2. 

J.  TV.  RANDOLPH,  121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Virginia,  hav- 
ing bought  the  remainder  of  the  edition,  will  supply  the  work  in  any 
quantity.  Copies  sent  by  mail  postpaid  to  all  who  remit  the  price  in 
money  or  stamps. 


J.  TV.  RANDOLPH  has  published  a  Catalogue  of  his  stock  of 
Books,  (amounting  to  §20,000,)  with  size,  binding,  and  price  of  each, 
which  may  be  had  gratis  at  121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Books  sent  by  mail  postpaid  to  all  who  remit  the  price  in  money  or 
stamps. 

Gentlemen  or  societies  forming  or  adding  to  their  libraries  will  save 
money  by  sending  their  orders  to  J.  TV.  RANDOLPH. 

Rare  old  works  bought  and  sold. 


HANDSOME  BINDING.— In  J.  TV  RANDOLPH'S  window, 
at  No.  121  Main  Street,  may  be  seen  a  BIBLE,  bound  in  his  estab- 
lishment by  one  of  his  workmen,  which  in  point  of  neatness  of  finish, 
beauty  of  style  and  durability,  cannot  be  excelled.  Our  citizens 
would  do  well  to  bear  these  facts  in  mind,  and  have  their  Books  bound 
at  home,  instead  of  sending  them  to  the  Northern  abolitionists. 

[Republican. 


COUNTRY  MERCHANTS,  Teachers  and  others,  can  buy  on  the 
best  terms  Standard,  School  and  Miscellaneous  Books,  Stationery,  &c. 

BLANK  BOOKS  made  to  order,  and  BINDING  done  in  any 
quantity  and  style. 


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